automatic stop, bradley bradshaw

twenty-four.

THE NEXT MORNING, THEY ARRIVED BRIGHT AND EARLY AT BASE FOR THEIR FIRST DAY BACK AT TOP GUN. they were officially in their last two weeks of training, and skye was wondering how time had passed so quickly. 

"today, we're going easy on you." panther said, looking over at skye in time to see her glare at him. "i know, i know, riot. you don't want easy. but today, we're gonna take you all back to the basic training you practiced at the beginning of your weeks here. only you're going to be comparing your performance today to one of the same exact description that you performed months ago. think you can beat what you did before?"

skye nodded. "aye aye." 

he sent her a look. "wipe the smirk off your face, riot."

she wiped her hand over her mouth, but the smirk didn't move. "what smirk?" 

"you and havoc are going to be paired with rooster as your wingman, and you're going to be going up against phoenix, fang, and hangman as their wingman. same rules as before." panther said, crossing his arms behind his back. "gear up." 

when skye was walking over to get to the tarmac, she was stopped by hangman, who was giving her his signature smile. "what do you want, slightly more tolerable jake?" she asked, turning to look at him. "you are named jake, too, right?"

he nodded. "yes, ma'am."

the nickname didn't sound as good coming from him as it did coming from rooster. "so i was right. jake must truly be an asshole name." she concluded, turning around to avoid him completely. 

"seriously, mitchell. what's going on between you and bradshaw?" 

skye kept walking. "i don't know what you're talking about, bagman." she adjusted the bag on her shoulder. 

"at the hard deck. fang called you bradshaw's girlfriend." hangman explained, following after her.

"i'm not his girlfriend." she replied, finally turning to look at him. 

he smirked. "are you feeling tired?"

"tired of your bullshit? yeah." she went back to ignoring him.

"i just mean because you've been running around in my brain all day." hangman finished.

the pick up line was enough to make skye almost physically cringe. "why would i be tired from running around such a small space?" 

she kept walking until he eventually stopped following her, moving to his own jet. 

skye affectionately ran her hand along the nose of her plane, almost like someone would pet a dog. it had been too long (a week) since she'd flown. "how are you feeling, kat?" 

katia shrugged, holding out a hand to help skye into the jet. "feeling ready to win this."

"that's the spirit, hav!" skye cheered, putting on her helmet and listening for orders to take off. 

once their jet was in the air, skye looked over her shoulder for rooster, who moved to hover next to them. "anyone remember how we did this last time?" he asked.

"you and hangman spun around each other for a while. it was super cute, and then we took out phoenix and fang and went to save your ass." skye replied, smirking over at him. 

"speak of the devils." katia mumbled as the two other planes moved onto her radar. "three o'clock high." 

rooster moved after hangman, who was already narrowing in on skye and katia. skye picked up her speed, doing a barrel roll in the air to avoid getting in hangman's line of fire. as their jet made its way around a hill, katia noticed the other plane. 

"you seeing that?" she asked.

skye nodded. "oh, i see 'em, hav." she sped after phoenix and fang and then did a flip in the air, landing with her nose facing their jet head on. 

phoenix pulled her gas mask off in frustration, though she was still undoubtedly impressed. "damn it!" she laughed. "that's the same stunt you two pulled last time."

"aw, you remember?" skye replied sarcastically. "it wasn't personal to you, phe. you're one of my favorite people, genuinely. your backseater, however, can go fuck himself." she said. "we need to get you a new callsign, fang. something that works with jake, a nice play on words." she pretended to think for a moment. "oh, i know, jakeass! cause every jake i know is a fucking jackass." 

fang rolled his eyes. "how immature can you be, riot?"

"maybe i can muster up the strength to be as immature as you are stupid, jakeass." she countered before turning her plane to the side to go help rooster. "see you later, phe." 

phoenix waved as they passed, much to fang's annoyance. phoenix had once confessed in skye that she didn't understand why jake had gotten into the top gun program in the first place, and that she hadn't known him for long at all. she thought he was in over his head, and that he needed an ego check. skye had promptly replied that she'd see to that. 

skye, after turning her jet around, quickly located rooster, who was chasing hangman around and quickly gaining speed on him. "need any help over there, rooster?" katia asked.

he grunted. "wouldn't hurt." 

"what's the magic word?" skye taunted.

"please?"

the two women joined him in chasing after hangman, who then became distracted and started following them. they led him lower, going just barely above the hard deck. when hangman swooped to follow them, he ended up being straight in rooster's line of fire.

"shit!" hangman shouted, trying to move only a second too late. 

"well, well, well, look who won again?" rooster laughed, looking over at skye and katia, who were quietly celebrating and preparing to head back to base. when they all arrived, rooster jogged after skye. "skye!" 

she turned, taking her helmet off, shaking her hair out of its tight bun. "what?"

"what were you and seresin talking about?" he asked as he ran a hand through his own hair. 

"jealous, bradshaw?" she countered, a smirk forming on her lips.

he tilted his head. "depends on what it is you were talking about."

skye shook her head. "he was asking if we were dating."

rooster stiffened. "what did you tell him?"

"i told him to fuck off." she lied. 

he smiled. "good." 

skye's brows furrowed and her eyes narrowed. "so what are we, then? to you?"

his smile faded instantly. "like you said before. we're friends."