One-shot challenge with Harrypanther: The following sentences have to be uttered in the story: "I swear I didn't do it!", "Yak stampede", and "Mom heard from her neighbour who heard from your dad that..."
Pairing: Hiccstrid
Words: minimum 2500
The friendly skies
The International Berkian Airport was crowded as per usual today as several cabin crew members and the pilots made their way through security. The pilots were dressed in black trousers and blazers along with a white button-up shirt. They wore no ties and the only thing to indicate their ranks were the difference in pilot wings upon their left breast pockets and the epaulets on their shoulders. The cabin crew walking with them was dressed smartly as well and wore a cobalt blue uniform with scarlet red scarfs or ties.
The crew easily made it past security and they headed to one of the crew lounges as a collective. One of the finer things about the Berkian Airport was that it hosted the crew in state of the art lounges. There were automatic check-ins as well as briefing rooms for the cabin crew. Other amenities even included free Wi-fi, computer terminals, cold and hot beverage stations as well as dry-cleaning services and showers.
The large cabin crew filed into one of the bigger conference rooms and each found a seat as they were being handed data on their next flight.
Hiccup, who was one of the stewards, was reading through the first page of data while waiting for their pilots to start the meeting.
Both Mala and Throk stood at the head of the table and glanced at everyone. Mala, being their pilot this flight, called the meeting to order. "First off I would like to welcome our newest cabin crewmember Atali Maiden."
Atali gave a short nod and wave to the Captain and the rest of the crew before Mala continued.
"Now as you all know we are assigned to a Boeing A380 for this trip. The callsign will be Berkian Three-Nine Heavy and departure time is set at 1900 hours. Our final destination will be AUH, Abu Dhabi International Airport. There will be a one-stop transit and refueling period at CIA, Cairo's International Airport, lasting two hours. The flight duration is supposed to take 13 hours and 45 minutes in total." Mala relayed to the crew she would be serving with.
"Our arrival ETA is set at 9:45 AM the following morning. Weather reports state that there will be light turbulence over the Atlantic due to a sudden shift in atmospheric pressure but we'll be having clear skies. For now, feel free to rest up for what will be a long journey. We will announce who will handle boarding procedures within an hour." Throk, the co-pilot, stated as the crew nodded and checked the information that they were given before exiting the briefing room.
"So cuz, what do you think of the new hire?" Snotlout asked as he jabbed Hiccup in the side. "She's a looker ain't she."
"Snot do you have a crush?" Hiccup asked slyly as he and his cousin headed to one of the seats in the lounges.
"No… No.. NOOO" Snotlout sputtered and became slightly red as Heather, one of the stewardesses assigned to First class, clapped him on the shoulder.
"He most definitely has a crush!" She said with a smirk that promised matchmaking in the future. The trio found a comfy set of chairs in the lounge and sank into it. They were soon joined by their other colleagues Fishlegs, Astrid, and the troublesome duo more commonly known as Ruffnut and Tuffnut.
The others took the seats opposite while Astrid scooted closer to Hiccup. She then proceeded to hand Hiccup a cup of hot chocolate.
"T...Thanks, Astrid." Hiccup blushed as he took the offered beverage.
"We still have a few hours before boarding procedures. What is everyone going to do?" Fishlegs asked as he looked at the flight time. "We'll be pretty much worn out by the time we land. The Paris flight seemed preferable."
"E-Excuse me?" A questioning voice interrupted from the side and the group of friends turned to see Atali standing there holding a salad and some juice. "Can I join you?"
"Of course!" Snotlout said swiftly as he bumped his cousin and Astrid a bit further down the couch before anyone could say anything. Atali sat down in the space created, smoothing out her skirt. Snotlout tried to hide his blush but the others soon caught on. Heather especially was giving the short steward a calculating glance.
Atali who sat down after a small hesitation and put her salad on the coffee table glanced at the others. "I'm sorry if I disturbed anything." She mumbled. "I just….. Don't have any friends yet."
"Oh no. You're not disturbing anything." Heather smiled as she leaned a bit closer. "So what made you transfer to Berkian Airlines?"
"Well, it's a bit of a long story," Atali sighed. "Please….. Uhm….. don't hate me."
"Why would we?" Hiccup asked as the group looked at Atali's nervousness.
"I previously worked at Northland Airlines and there was this pilot that constantly tried to charm me," Atali muttered. "He used to send me flowers and all that. Northland Airlines had a strict no fraternization policy and one of the stewardesses hated me and wanted me gone."
"Oh dear," Fishlegs mumbled as the group listened to the story.
"It's all in my personal file so it's not a big secret." Atali sighed. "I was fired after she made it seem that I was going against company policy even though I never gave in to his advances. There wasn't even an inquiry!"
"You shouldn't worry about that here Atali." Snotlout suddenly said. "Berkian Airlines doesn't penalize who you date or want to date. So long as you can stay professional during the job they won't care. I mean just look at Hiccup and Astrid!"
"Wait, what?!" Astrid exclaimed as she stared at Snotlout. "How do you even know that?!" The outed couple then turned to Fishlegs who held out his hands in defense.
"I swear I didn't do it!" Fishlegs uttered. No one wanted to face the Valkyrie of the skies. Astrid was as much of a stewardess as well as a bouncer if times got tough. He'd seen her handle men twice her size if they caused problems.
"How did you know Snot?" Hiccup asked as both Astrid's and his glances turned to Snotlout.
"Well…. Uhm… well…" Snotlout seemed hesitant as he thought of a good excuse. He finally relented when Astrid's glare started bordering on dangerous and he confessed to Hiccup, "Okay….. Okay… my mom heard it from her neighbour who heard from your dad…" He explained as he waved his hands about. "Besides you guys totally glance at each other in that lovey-dovey way. It's not THAT hard to figure out."
Hiccup groaned as he remembered that his father now went to the Community Center to play bingo on Saturday nights. Who knew what he and Gobber gossiped about during that time.
Before Astrid could blow a gasket Snotlout directed Atali to other relationships. "You know our pilot and co-pilot right?" Atali nodded as Snotlout continued. "They secretly eloped last March."
"Oh my…" Atali gasped.
"Well not with each other," Hiccup added with a raised brow. "Snotlout please don't confuse her."
"What do you mean?" Atali asked as she looked around at the grins that her colleagues were sporting.
"Captain Mala eloped with Heather's brother Dagur." Hiccup indicated and Heather nodded to confirm it.
"I still get to tease Mr-I-will-never-marry about it," Heather proudly smirked.
"And our co-pilot, Throk, eloped with Ruffnut over there." Hiccup explained as Ruffnut looked rather proud.
"Now that was a spectacle," Fishlegs added. "Tuffnut screamed Yak stampede throughout the terminal to delay the flight as his sister eloped. We just didn't expect a real yak stampede on the tarmac."
"What can I say. I live to impress," Tuffnut boasted as he puffed his chest out before his sister smacked him on the head.
"I never told you to get actual yaks!" She groaned. "Luckily security never figured out who let the yaks onto the tarmac and airport."
"Well, you said to make it good!" Tuffnut countered. "I outdid myself!"
"Yes, you did!" Ruffnut smirked and then wagged her brows. "I even had time for a little honeymoon afterwards."
"Oh, Thor! Oh, Thor! TOO MUCH INFORMATION SIS!" Tuffnut cringed.
Atali ate her salad as she watched the twins bicker. "Is this normal?" She finally asked as the twins were on the floor and no one as doing anything to stop their tussle.
"Oh yeah." Hiccup told her as he sipped the hot chocolate. Astrid, meanwhile, had gone and procured a hotdog from the cafe in the lounge. She had loaded it up with sourkrout and stepped over the twins who were…. Working out their differences. As she took her seat again she heard Hiccup say "We learned long ago that it was much more dangerous to get in between them."
"Well, you learned that long ago," Astrid laughed before she began eating. "Thor, this sourkrout is good." she hummed as she took a bite of her food.
Hiccup was looking at his girlfriend oddly and said "Didn't you used to hate sourkrout?"
"I had no idea what I was missing. Especially after puking my guts out this morning." Astrid happily sighed as she took another bite. "This hits the spot."
Heather raised a brow at Astrid as she ate before turning back to Atali. "Right…. So Hiccup learning that lesson actually is the reason Captain Mala met my brother."
"Wait….." Ruffnut perked up as the twins suddenly stood up. "We're telling that story?"
"You guys are never going to let this story get old are you?" Hiccup groaned.
"Nope"
"No"
"No way"
"Not happening" were some of the responses he got from his friends.
"Fiiiiine" Hiccup grumbled. "But I'm telling it. No exaggerations!"
"Hey Astrid," Heather said as Hiccup reluctantly started. "Why don't we head to the ladies room for a minute?"
Astrid raised a brow but nodded. It wasn't so strange for the ladies to have a girls-chat. They now resorted to going together to the ladies room instead of talking in pig-latin or Klingon in front of the guys. There were too many raised brows once and one flustered face. Who knew Fishlegs understood Klingon? Astrid and Heather excused themselves as Hiccup got to the bar scene in his story.
Heather locked the door once they were inside and turned to Astrid. "So sourkrout?"
"I've been craving it a lot lately." Astrid shrugged as she looked in the mirror and saw stray hair out of her bun. She was fixing it when Heather asked: "And the throwing up?"
"Since yesterday," Astrid shrugged. "It might have just been a stomach bug. I feel fine now."
"Astrid, you know I'm a registered nurse. And these symptoms seem more that of pregnancy than a stomach bug." Heather theorized.
Astrid turned and stared at her for a moment. "That can't be, right?!"
"Did you have any other cravings?" Heather asked.
Astrid thought for a moment "Well, I've had olives last night."
"Didn't you say olives are only good in martinis?" Heather asked and Astrid's eyes widened.
"Okay… okay. Maybe you're onto something." Astrid stated. "But we have to be sure."
"Well there's a pharmacy nearby in the terminal," Heather stated as she got out her phone and sent off a message. "I'll text Ruff to see if she can make a quick stop." She then turned back to Astrid who was pensive. "You do know you're going to have to step down from active duty in a few weeks if you are pregnant right?"
"I know," Astrid said with a smile. "Hiccup and I have actually been talking about it for a few months now."
"You have?" Heather asked.
"Yeah, but nothing is definite yet. We've been living together for about three years already and one night the subject of kids came up." Astrid explained as she and Heather leaned against the wall. "Besides, Berkian Airlines has offered me a position as a cabin crew instructor. The pay isn't so different from what I'm getting now and the work hours are more flexible. It's an attractive job because I'll be closer to home."
There was a knock on the door and Heather asked "What's the password?"
"Wait….. We decided on a password?" Came from the other side of the door and heather unlocked it to reveal Ruffnut with a very large package. "Ruff, what did you buy?"
"I didn't know which one to get so I got all the brands," Ruffnut said as the door was locked once more. She placed the plastic bag on the sink counter and got out several tests. "You never know the accuracy of these things. Can you believe I actually got a weird look from the guy behind the counter?"
"I'll bet." Astrid laughed.
"The guys shot me confused looks when I practically sprinted out of the lounge," Ruffnut explained as Astrid picked up one of the tests before heading into a stall.
"Oh yeah?" Astrid asked from behind the door.
"Yeah, Tuff gave me this weirded out look because I got up just as Hiccup got to the jukebox and monkey scene. You all know how I loved that one."
"Well you did cause it," Heather raised a brow as Ruff smirked.
Hiccup looked up when the ladies returned. "Hey, Astrid," He said when he laid eyes on her and Heather slyly smirked.
"Where were you gals at?" Snotlout asked. "You missed the part about Captain Mala putting out the fire."
"Oh, just the ladies room," Astrid said as she sat next to Hiccup again. "So where were you in the story?"
"Just finished the part of the spilled drinks and Dagur accidentally lighting himself on fire when he was hitting on Mala." Hiccup said. "There isn't much left to tell." Hiccup said to Atali who appeared to have been listening with rapt attention. "I drove Dagur to the doctor but not before he slipped Mala his phone number and yelled CALL ME!"
"And to my brother's surprise, she called him back two days later," Heather added.
Hiccup nodded and slung an arm over Astrid who leaned against him. They were just relaxing for a while and making more small talk when his phone chimed. Hiccup fumbled for a moment to get his phone out of his pocket and saw that his father had sent him a text message.
"It's dad." He said to Astrid. "He's just wishing us a safe flight."
Astrid smiled as she leaned over while Hiccup typed something. Soon another text message popped up. "And now he's asking for grandkids." Hiccup laughed. "I don't think Gobber's talk about subtlety got through."
"Hiccup can I send a text?" Astrid asked. Hiccup gave her his phone and Astrid bent down and quickly typed something. She didn't let him see what she was typing until she had already sent it. Astrid had a sly smile on her face when Hiccup read the text out loud. "Hi, Astrid here. Stoick ETA on grandkids: Approximately nine months."
Heather and Ruffnut had to suppress their laughter as Hiccup stared dumbly at the message for a good ten seconds before it got through to him what his girlfriend was saying.
"Astrid…. Are you…. You…. you…." Hiccup sputtered as Astrid nodded in affirmative.
It apparently took Stoick the same amount of time to figure out what Astrid meant as Hiccup's phone started ringing just as he had enveloped Astrid in a hug.
The end