Bradley aka "Rooster" and Y/n aka Daggers were really close when they were kids since Y/n's father is none other than Tom 'Iceman' Kazansky. But when Maverick pulled Bradley's papers into Top Gun and Y/n went on without him, Bradley swore never to c...
I was on my way to the base when I got a call from an old friend Phoenix. She and I go way back to an assignment in the Dutch Harbor. One of the first times flying next to another female pilot. She told me that all of the other pilots were meeting up at the Hard Deck bar before we start tomorrow. I pull up and walk in. There is nothing better than the feeling of walking into a bar and having almost all the attention turned toward you. And I made sure to dress that way too.
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I look around and saw Phoenix hanging in the back with, oh boy, Hangman. He the kind of guy who thinks there's only one way to every mission, speed. I make my way back to the group. "I didn't think they would bring the navel princess down into our playing felid," Hangman said as I approached the group. I look around to see Fanboy, Payback, Phoenix, Coyote, and a little guy, Bob sitting around watching. "And I didn't think they would bring Gunners here either," I sassed with a sweet smile. "But isn't that what they're supposed to do?" Bob asked. Phoenix smiled and walked over to me. "Not that kind of gunner, sweet pea," she said shooting a wink at him. I walked up to Hangman, who had a confused look on his face. "A Gunner is another word for ah, how should I say" I watch closely as Hangman leans into every word. "An amazing pilot like myself, or maybe just a handsome man like myself," he flirted like the dick he was. "A lapdog." I finish. His jaw tightens. Everyone else snickers.
I walk to the other side of the pool table and grab a stick from Fanboy. "Wow a speechless Hangman, never thought I see the day. Good job, Daggers," Payback said and I took a shot, eventually leading to 3 of Phoenix's balls landing in the correct basket. I stand fully extended and watch their faces. Shocked. "How in the name of hell, how did you do that?" Bob asks. "Retirement comes with its perks. You should see me at poker," I giggle. Suddenly the bells over the bar ring. I cheer loudly as I walk over to the bar. "Hey, Penny!" I yell over the noise "4 bottles of my usual on the victim." I laugh and when she moved I saw the victim. "Uncle Mav?" I yell. His head shoots up. "Oh my, is that really who I think it is?" I laugh and walk over to him. "It is you, Y/n. How you been, kiddo?" he says bringing me into a hug.
"Retired, What about you? I thought you'd see you would never be back at this shithole again. Top Gun, not the bar," I chuckle. Penny brings me my bottles. "Now Pete Michell, how do you know one of my most trusted customers?" she asked. "Trusted customers?" he asks. "Come here twice a week for karaoke night," I say taking a sip. "Penny, Maverick here is my God Father. And one of my Dad's best friends." "Well who's your Dad?" she asks. "One of your most trusted customers, eh? You didn't tell her?" Maverick asks me. I roll my eyes as he continues "She is the daughter of Icemen." Penny's mouth fell open."Are you serious? Why didn't you ever tell me!?" She yelled. I shrugged. She rolled her eyes as a voice calls out to Penny. "Ok, you two enjoy, But Miss Y/n we are not done talking about this!" I laugh as she walks away. "I knew her before I could drink. I used to babysit Amelia when Penny first moved here. She's like a mother to me," I say taking another sip. "But enough about me! Why are you here?" I ask.
Maverick releases a dry chuckle and looks a the group in the back. "What? You're not going back to Top Gun are you?" I asked giggling. He looked me dead in the eye. "Holy shit, you are. Same here," I smile, letting my bottle play sound on my lips. Maverick scrunched up his face in confusion. "What about Retirement?" he asked. "Well here's the funny little thing about retirement, it never lasts long." I chuckle."How's" Maverick starts but sounds nervous to finish "How's your old man?" "You would know if you visited every once in a while. He missed you, Maverick! We all do. Seeing you remind me of the good old days. With me, my siblings, hell, even Bradley, would run throughout our yard barefoot, looking for bugs we could scare Mom with. While you and the other adults would sit on top of the porch drinking beers and talking about our futures."
"Yeah, those were good times," he mumbled against his bottle. "Now, it's the kids' turn to talk about the future. And I hate it," I sigh and look down. But they float back up to look at everyone. "Look at all these pilots. I mean I've read about these people. Their stories, the training that they've had to do. They sure got a good group." she muttered. "Is that a good thing?" Mav asked and I looked at him. "No, but it's not bad either. I just wanna know what the hell kind of mission is this?" "Well it must be pretty easy if they called you to be a potential leader?" he said snickering. "Oh really? You want to go there?" I ask and smirk at Penny. She smiles and nods. I step over the counter and into the service area of the bar.
I walk over to the bell and smile at Maverick. "Y/n! Don't do it, please, I'm sorry," he begged, laughter interrupting his words. "Sorry Mav, but rules are rules," I call out. I then whistle at Hangman and some of the fellas there to come help with Mav. I place my hand on the rope as I hear Maverick calling my name. I wave and the bell makes a loud chiming sound. Cheered erupted and people started chanting "Overboard!" Penny and I watched as Mav got carried out. "Nice to see you, Pete!" Penny yelled. I was about to should when I was interrupted by a voice that caught my attention. "Well, I'll be damned," I turn to see the blond hair, tanned skin, and a mustache. He was wearing jeans and a white shirt. But he has a Hawaiian shirt over his white one. He takes off his glasses, showing me his gorgeous green eyes.
"Bradley Bradshaw," the air almost gets knocked out of me with that name "There's a handsome face I haven't seen in a few years," I said grabbing two bottles of Budwiser and climbing over the bar to him. "Where have you been off to?" "All over, you?" he asked as I handed him a bottle. "Haven't been anywhere in a long time. Supposed to be retired. But sometimes duty calls," I say and sit next to him. He nods and puts the unopened bottle to his lips. He stares at it confused. "What, you don't know how to open your bottle?" she asks. "No, I do. But when we're kids you always had some fancy way of doing things. So show me how to open this bottle," he teased. I rolled my eyes and grabbed the bottle. I stood up and banged it against the counter, popping it open. I hand it back to Bradley and he just laughs. "What?" "Everyone knows how to do that one. Got anything more unique?" he asks. I roll my eyes again and look down. My boots! "Yeah, but this time, you're gonna do it. Ok, here's what your gonna do. You are gonna come over by me and when I say, you gonna gently hit the bottom of the bottle against the heel of my boot." (Idk if that makes sense, I've seen people do this before.)
His eyes go wide. "How am supposed to do this?" he asked. "Like how I just told you! Now come on! My bottles getting warm!" I stand up and bend my leg backward as if I was gonna stretch it. He stood behind me and squatted a bit to get a better angle of the heel. Ok ready?" I ask him. I see him give me a smile and nod. "Ok 1, 2, 3, hit it." And he does, letting the top fly off. I laugh as he hands me my drink. "Now that's how you open a bottle the Y/n/n way," he chucked. I smile and take a sip. "Y/n what happened to us?" he asked sitting down next to me. "It's a normal thing to be separate from your childhood friends. That's what makes moments like this so special," She smiled sweetly holding his shoulder. "So we go from hanging out every night to only seeing each other when the navy needs us to," he said and grabbed the hand off his shoulder, holding it gently. "I've missed you, Y/n. I haven't seen you since my mother died and that is never the reason childhood friends should reunite." I take a moment to feel his hand. It's dry, yet warm. I grab his hands that held mine. "I have to. It seems like yesterday you and I were hanging out the summer before I came to Top Gun," I start. "And before I went into navel school." We decided it would be fun if we took a trip together. But nothing good ever lasts forever. We had 3 nights left and we started taking.
Talking about navel school got us talking about papers. That's when I found out that he didn't just choose not to go in right away, it was because his papers got pulled. He was angry about it. "I am so sorry, Bradley," I say. "It's bullshit, I waited a year for you to graduate just so we could go together, and how I had to wait longer!" he yelled "They always have a reason, Bradley. They don't just pull them without any meaning." "When I found out who did pull them, I will never forgive them! I've wanted nothing else than to graduate with you, go to Top Gun with you! I wanna be with you." That last part of that conversation leads to us confessing our feelings to one another. We technically were a couple that summer. But when I went off to Top Gun, I met Ghost and everything changed. we didn't see each other for months on end. a few letters every so often, but no sitting down and having a meaningful conversation. "Bradshaw, as I live a breath" We hear Hangman speak. Bradley's jaw tightens. Oh, brother. Here we go. Bradley walked off to go find the group. "Oh Jesus, help us all," I mumble taking a big drink and walking towards the group
