How Not To Have A Relaxing Holiday

Flight Frustrations

A/N: Another story? Well, I am currently on holiday and have been recalling past vacations...including those that didn't go so well. And while I couldn't include everything that went wrong in my personal experience of holidays (frankly, no one would believe that) it seemed time to send our favourite HTTYD characters to the delights of the sunny Costa del Dragon and all the mayhem that awaits. Enjoy...

ONE: Flight Frustrations

Astrid Hofferson was standing impatiently by the doors as the bus finally pulled up at Dragon's Edge Airport. The driver-a standard full-bearded Archipelago Viking descendent-fastidiously pulled up exactly to the mark on the bus-stop outside the Departures Terminal entrance and as soon as the door hissed and opened, Astrid was out, sprinting for the gate. Hiccup Haddock, her long-term boyfriend bounded after her, their luggage gripped firmly in his hands. Astrid was lithe, blonde and ferociously determined while Hiccup-tall and lanky with a prosthetic left lower leg from a serious road accident when he was fifteen-was sassy, sarcastic, smart and caring and had loved Astrid since he was about ten. A couple since the start of Junior Year at Berk High School, they had gone to College on Dragon's Edge together and now, in the vacation before Senior Year, Hiccup had picked up some last minute tickets for a short break in the resort of Costa del Dragon, the Spanish resort beloved by the inhabitants of the Archipelago. He and Astrid, who had jobs to make ends meet while they were studying, had managed to get time off and were looking forward to five days of hot Mediterranean sun, sand and relaxation.

Except, of course, they lived in the Barbaric Archipelago, that collection of inhospitable Nordic islands in the North Atlantic where everyone had been descended from a Viking and the most ridiculous things were accepted as normal. So of course, the bus to the airport had been held up by over an hour because a herd of yaks had escaped onto the main highway out of the town and pretty much everyone had needed to be roped in to help wrangle them off the road. Astrid had been pretty successful but Hiccup had been barged to the ground and lightly trampled before Astrid could rescue him. His jeans were grubby and his trainers scraped but he had dusted himself down, grabbed his bush hat and jammed it back on over his auburn hair. Pale, freckled and auburn, he wasn't exactly designed for hot sunshine but he knew Astrid loved the sun so when the last-minute package deal to Costa del Dragon had come up, there had been no need for discussion.

Astrid sprinted forward through the compact Departures Zone, her large bag swinging as she weaved her way through prospective holidaymakers. She had double-checked all of Hiccup's work in booking the holiday, the flights, the seats and had printed out copies of everything so she was well able to check them in-provided he wasn't too far behind. Scanning as she ran, she dodged a woman with a trolley piled high with nine suitcases and sprinted to gate 5 with Hiccup a few yards behind.

"Astrid Hofferson and Hiccup Haddock for Flight 519 to Alicante," she said as she arrived at the desk and slapped her passport onto the counter. The women sitting there staring at her smartphone didn't even acknowledge her for a moment. "I said..." Astrid began again.

"We're closed," the agent said, her face bored.

"The gate doesn't close for two minutes," Astrid told her firmly. "It says so on the ticket and the board. You known-the one behind you?"

"Sorry-you're too late," the agent said. She was a slightly portly woman with too much make-up, peroxide blonde hair and her eyes glued to her phone. The bright red and green uniform was straining around her solid shape.

"No, we're not," Astrid told her sharply as Hiccup panted up. "Now check us in please. We're in seats 21A and 21B."

The women finally looked up and rolled her eyes, tapping the screen. She shook her head.