The friendly skies (HTTYD-oneshot)

The friendly skies

"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.