A short, two-part fic about Hiccup and Astrid as airline pilots. The concept stuck with me, and I didn't find anybody else doing one, so I went ahead and wrote something.

Chapter 1: Fly-by-wire

Tap, tap, tap.

Clean, trimmed nails struck a steady beat against the handle of her luggage as Astrid sat stiffly on the sofa in the airline crew room, a scowl marring her features. She checked her watch for the tenth time in probably as many minutes. Where the Hel was that new captain who would be flying with her today?

There were a few cabin crew milling about the kitchenette, but she paid them no mind. Earlier, one of them had greeted her and attempted to strike up a conversation, but dismissed it as a lost cause after her curt answers. They've kept their distance ever since.

It was hardly the way to make a good first impression, and she might be flying with some of them again in the future, but she couldn't help it. She had imagined this whole scenario so differently: striding through the door proudly, four golden stripes shining atop each shoulder epaulet, and being greeted as Captain Hofferson.

Astrid had been a hair's breadth away from being the first female captain in Berk Airways. Or at least that was what the pilots' rumor mill was saying. Astrid was never one to give gossip too much credit, but it was hard to not get her hopes up. Her record was flawless, and she had the hours—why wouldn't she be?

Instead, all the "promotion" she got was a transfer to training for the newly delivered Airbus A320 jets. It's meant to be exciting, being given first go at a brand new, state-of-the-art aircraft. She supposed it was intended as a compliment, a reward. Didn't feel like one though.

They were a far cry from the old Boeing 737-400s she had flown for virtually the entirety of her career. Astrid had easily earned her type rating for the new plane, but her extensive experience would mean little on an unfamiliar flight deck. There were already old habits she had to unlearn. All of a sudden, her dream of captaincy had spiraled back down to square one.

Her hand clenched at the memory of when she'd been informed. Management had tried to sell it to her as a recognition of her talent. Her past performance and adaptability were unrivaled, they said, making her the natural choice to pilot the newest and best in the fleet. It didn't sound very convincing. Or genuine, for that matter.

The company, and the industry at large, had always been male dominated, and the push for increased diversity hadn't necessarily gone down well. It was good PR for certain, but she suspected the recent hiring of several female pilots didn't sit well with a few bigwigs up top, and her promotion to captain would have pushed it over the edge. Gods knew Scott had been whining since the very beginning when the rumors started.

Scott. The chauvinistic oaf shouldn't even be flying, but apparently different rules applied when you were the son of a company executive. If he got to sit in the left seat before her, she was resigning.

And, as the final insult, there was mounting derision among Berk pilots at those who transitioned to the A320. Thanks to fly-by-wire controls and automated systems, the Airbus' handled better, not to mention needed less input from the pilot. Astrid herself found them a delight to fly, but there were already murmurs that only the greener airmen were chosen. On a 737, you fly the plane, they claimed. On an A320, you just sit there and tell it what to do.

Tap, tap, ta—

"Um, hi, are you Astrid Hofferson?" A mildly nasal voice brought Astrid out of her musings.

Looking up, she met the gaze of a man in a somewhat rumpled pilot's uniform, with his blazer draped over one arm. And then her eyes zeroed in on his shoulder epaulets, where four golden stripes almost glowed against the black fabric. No, there was no way…

"I'm Hiccup," he said cheerfully, extending his free hand. "We'll be flying together today. It's nice to meet you!"

This was the captain? Him? He looked the same age as her! If anything, the boyish smile he had gave her the impression he was even younger.

Said smile wavered when the seconds ticked by and Astrid had yet to respond. Shaking herself out of the initial disbelief, she eyed him skeptically and blurted out the first thing that came to mind: "That's not a real name."

Well. So much for good first impressions.

To his credit, Hiccup, or so he claimed, didn't appear offended. Instead, he reached up and scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "Yeah, uh, it's actually Holden," he chuckled. There was a hint of embarrassment. "But my friends all call me Hiccup."

Standing, Astrid smoothed down her shirt and summoned the same shining, friendly smile she greeted passengers with. Seething in private was one thing, but professionalism came first. "Sorry, I can be a bit tactless this early in the morning. First Officer Astrid Hofferson, pleasure to meet you."

For a moment, Hiccup, or Holden, rather, seemed somewhat dazed, and Astrid's smile deepened ever so slightly.

The morning light scattered as the sun peeked through the gaps in the cockpit's sun shades, leaving little bright spots on top of the tray table. Astrid pushed her sunglasses up, and shifted in her seat, trying to keep the light out of her eyes. This time of year and this far up north, the sun always appeared to be directly in front of you. Other than that, the weather was perfect for flying. No clouds, and only a light breeze.

Finishing her inspection of the instrument panels, Astrid pulled out the airport maps to review their approach again as she waited for Hiccup to return from his preflight walk-around. The nickname had stuck with her, surprisingly, and she had given up on correcting herself by the fifth time. It fit, somehow.

But he was still entirely an enigma to her. Astrid had been with Berk Airways for years, and never once did she hear of a captain this young among their ranks. Surely, if he had always been with them, someone would have mentioned him, especially with the distinctive way he introduced himself.

A new hire, perhaps? If so, what did he do previously that earned him the captaincy? She would never let it affect her work, but the apparent injustice gnawed at her. They had spent the time since the briefing in a stretched, awkward silence, both of them seeming to have questions they were holding back.

"Hey, uh, do you want to fly the leg down while it's still daytime?"

Astrid jumped a little; she hadn't heard him come back in. Looking across at him as he settled into the left-hand seat, she nodded.

"Sure."

They worked through the rest of the preflight procedure quickly. He definitely knew his stuff, that was certain, his gaze moving to the next item on the checklist before she had finished reading it out.

After all was said and done, out of habit, Astrid reached down for the console to select the PA system. In the past, at least one announcement to passengers was by her; marketing thought it would improve their image, making it known that they had women pilots. Astrid was all for it. After all, maybe her voice over the intercom could reassure a young girl they could become a pilot someday, too. Today's passengers would most likely be holiday-goers, heading south to enjoy the beach and the summer sun.

"Good morning ladies and gentlemen, this is your first officer, Astrid, and with me on the flight deck today is Captain Hic—" Astrid's eyes widened at her slipup, but she pressed on, "Captain Holden."

"We're delighted to have you on board, and weather's looking good on both ends, so we'll have everyone back on the ground in about five hours. Please sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight as well as the service of our wonderful cabin crew."

Mortified, she glanced to over at Hiccup, ready to apologize, only to see him trying his best not to laugh. Not that he was succeeding. Once he managed to collect himself, he quipped at her, voice full of mirth, "And that's why I'm usually the one making the preflight announcements."

Astrid could only shake her head in response, fighting a smile of her own.

Traffic was sparse this morning, and the tower cleared them for pushback and taxiing right on schedule. Before long, they were lining up on runway 31L for takeoff.

Berk policy was that both pilots push the throttles together on takeoff, and Astrid waited for Hiccup's hand to join hers. Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw him hesitate, just for a moment. When he finally did, she could feel that his hand was warm, and slightly clammy. Paying it no mind, she pushed forward until it reached the takeoff thrust detent.

"FLEX set."

She always enjoyed the feeling of the plane accelerating down the runway for takeoff. The slight push back into the seat, the vibrations from the tarmac surface below, and the roar of the engines. They sounded quieter in the Airbus, though.

Beside her, Hiccup called out eighty knots on the airspeed indicator.

"Eighty knots," she confirmed.

"V one, rotate," called Hiccup after a few moments, and she pulled back on the sidestick, easing the nose up and watching as the ground sank below the edge of the windshield.

"Positive rate, gear up."

The climb out was uneventful. With the autopilot set and the after-takeoff checklist complete, Astrid could relax a little. One of the best things about flying was the view, and no matter how many times she took off out of this same airport, she'd always appreciate the way her hometown looked from up above.

To her right, a handful of skyscrapers towered over the landscape, glass facades gleaming in the morning sun. The city skyline was backed by a line of mountains, adorned with snowcapped peaks all year round. When the plane banked, the view shifted to winding roads bordered by trees, rooftops poking out amidst the green, and the occasional solar panel reflecting the sunlight up at her.

"You know, you should loosen your grip on the stick."

The sound of Hiccup's voice surprised her. It was different from before—the faint nervous edge was gone. In fact, it was vaguely reminiscent of the way her instructor sounded all those years ago.

"What?"

"You were holding onto it too tightly." He pointed over to her sidestick as he spoke. "It's easy to overcontrol like that. The stick is pretty sensitive, you can move it with just a finger. Remember, you're controlling the pitch and roll rate, not the actual surfaces like before."

Astrid blinked before giving a brief nod, and they lapsed back into silence once more.

"And when I turned around, there Toothless was, clinging to the strut, and glaring down at me!"

Astrid couldn't help herself. As Hiccup finished his story, she felt a smile pulling at the corners of her mouth.

For the past half hour, he had been regaling her with the exploits of his cat that he had inexplicably named Toothless, despite one of the stories involving the precious feline chewing up his flight charts. The latest was how he discovered Toothless in the wing of the ultralight he was flying only after they had taken off.

Clearly pleased by the reaction, Hiccup flashed a lopsided grin at her. "So, have I finally broken down those walls of ice, milady?"

At that, her smile faded. Had her irritation been that obvious? "I don't know what you mean," she said lightly.

"Come on, you've said less than a dozen words to me since we met." He paused, as if afraid he just undid all the progress up till now. "Okay, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but still."

Sighing, she bit her lip and wondered if she should tell him, and how much. Over the previous several hours, she had figured he was a genuinely likeable person with an earnest passion for flying. Very competent and at home in the cockpit, too. In the end, she decided to throw caution to the winds.

"It's just… This isn't where I saw myself a few months ago."

"You were hoping for captaincy, right?" He asked carefully.

"Mhm," Astrid nodded affirmative. "I guess you heard the rumors, too. But no, I get shunted to this. Not that I don't appreciate flying a new plane," she added quickly, "But gods forbid Scott get his stripes before me."

"You mean Snotlout?"

Astrid snorted, "What?"

"That's what I used to call him when we were little. He's my cousin." The cheeky grin on his face told her this was something he was more than happy to share with others.

She was about to comment on that when something else hit her. Scott's father was the airline CEO's brother. It was why he had such an attitude, strutting around like he owned the place. If Hiccup was his cousin, then did that make him…? Her eyes flicked up. His hair. That same shade of auburn. Astrid could feel the anger flaring up in her again. Was this how he became captain?

It must have shown, because Hiccup's face fell. "Yeah, I'm Holden Haddock. Stanton Haddock is my father."

Under Astrid's piercing glare, he raised his hands defensively. "Hey, it's not something I like to advertise. And I didn't get this job because of him."

"Then how did you get it?" Her tone was icy, all the previous goodwill evaporating.

"I wanted to fly since I was little. I remember Dad taking me up as a kid, and he taught me to fly in this little Piper before I could even drive." Despite the nostalgia in his voice, a frown appeared on Hiccup's face, and he gazed out the windshield.

"But he always wanted me to take over from him. Manage the airline, not fly for it. We had a lot of fights, but eventually we made a deal: if I could make captain at a major airline before he retired, I could choose what I wanted to do."

Looking back to her, he continued, a bit more upbeat than before, "I flew cargo for a while, and then I had a lucky break. I was recruited by SAS, and I've been flying with them ever since. Dad convinced me to come back recently, what with the new orders, since I've been flying them all along."

"Whatever you may think, Dad's not the type to go easy just because I'm his son," he appealed to her earnestly, obviously hoping it would somewhat mollify her. "Out of all the pilots we have, I've got the most experience on the A320, and I've got the hours to qualify for captain."

By this point, Astrid was already looking down at her hands in her lap and picking at a nail. She had misjudged, and assumed the worst of him. Suddenly the cockpit was feeling very cramped.

"And rest assured, this isn't a punishment," Hiccup continued in that same determined air. "I had a hand in picking everyone for the first round of transition, and I'll be honest, I did suggest you specifically. They—"

"Hold on!" Astrid interrupted, "You're the reason for all this?"

Hiccup paled, stumbling over his words, "Wait, no, okay, just let me ask you this first! Why do you want to be captain?"

The unexpected question stopped her oncoming outburst before it even began. What kind of question was that? He might as well have asked why she breathed. But then again, when she tried to answer, her mind drew a blank.

"Okay, how about this. Why did you become a pilot?"

"Because I love flying." To Astrid, it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"And you're still doing that as a first officer! Plus you're experiencing something new." Hiccup gestured around them, waving a hand at the LCD instrument panels.

"Does being the captain change anything about how much you love doing this? Sure, the seniority and higher pay grade has its perks, but trust me, your promotion will come in no time. They weren't lying when they said this was because you were adaptable. I had a feeling you'd learn to fly this bird faster than anyone else, probably even me. And you'll be one of the few pilots we have that has hours on both jets. Everyone will be wanting to fly with you. Besides, in the meantime, you're still senior first officer."

Well when put like that, it was definitely more heartening.

Her pursuit of captaincy had largely been to prove that she could do it. Like with other pilots, it was a "just because" thing. Being able to say she captained an airliner would be a privilege. Maybe she had been looking at this transition the wrong way: instead of artificial barriers, it was a testament to her airmanship.

"You know," Hiccup started again, and this time the embarrassment was back, a hand rubbing at the back of his neck. "I was actually kinda nervous about flying with you."

The disbelief on Astrid's face at that statement made him chuckle. "I'm serious, you have quite a reputation. I hear you've corrected captains on their mistakes before, and someone like me, who hasn't had his line check in ages? I was a bit worried."

Smirking, Astrid gladly took the bait, "Well then you better watch out, because I'm gunning for your job, Hiccup!"

He gasped dramatically, holding his chest and twisting his features into one of fear, and the two of them laughed before settling into a new, comfortable silence.

AN: So yes, I've taken a few creative liberties. Pilot promotions don't work like that, for example, and a lot of procedures have been skipped. I hope those who are pilots don't object too much to my portrayal...