Survive - Phoenix X Rooster

7- Day Off

Rooster

When I wake up the following day, it's pathetic to say, but the first thing I think of is still her sexy look and the way she kissed my cheek last night.
Damn, this woman is way too sexy.

I shower and change, trying not to think about her, but as soon as I see her wandering around at base, a cup of coffee in hand and her usual smile stretching her lips, I can't help but thinking about yesterday night again.

"Oh, hey lieutenant Bradshaw, slept well?," she greets me and I smile. "Good and you?," I ask back. "Perfect, I was exhausted so this was the best night I've ever had," she says with exaggeration, making me smile. "We're quite early, wanna have a coffee?," she offers and of course, I accept. We walk to the cafeteria, where she makes me a coffee, without me having asked for anything. "Wanna make it the Natasha Trace way?," she asks. "Do your thing," I accept and she puts oat milk, cream and brow sugar in my coffee. "You now know my secret recipe, so keep it a secret, yeah?," she smiles and she raises her eyebrows in a expecting way. "Right ma'am," I chuckle.

"Hi lovebirds, mind making me a coffee too?," Hangman says as he enters the room. "Fuck off Bagman," Phoenix replies with annoyance. "Hangman," he corrects. "Whatever," she rolls her eyes. "So you won't make me a coffee?," he insists. "Wasn't she clear?," I raise an eyebrow. He chuckles and we leave the coffee machine.
This man is annoying, even if he can be quite funny sometimes, and he's not really mean, he is sill the most annoying person I know.

"Did you see Bob this morning?," I ask as I wonder why the blonde is still not at the base, the lesson beginning in less than ten minutes. "Nope, we should call him, shouldn't we?," she frowns and I nod. I send him a quick text as she calls him, only for him to not pick up his phone. "Right, he's probably on his way," I suppose. Phoenix hums and we finish our coffees, walking to the parking lot to see him arrive.

But here's the thing. He doesn't arrive by the time we have to reach the other building for the lesson.
"Weird of him," Phoenix frowns.

We sit next to each other, Bob not being there to sit next to her, and I mentally thank him for that. We begin making theories of why he wouldn't be here. "He must me sleeping if he didn't pick up his phone," she supposed and I nod. "Or taking a shower," "Or he's indeed in his car and he will arrive in a few minutes..."

The few minutes passed and Bob was still not there.

Maverick neither, by the way.

Phoenix

Admirals Simpson and Bates walked in, wearing even more serious looks than usual.

"Hello everyone. Today, we will redo the studying of your mission. We, unfortunately...," he takes a pause and I turn to Rooster, anticipating what we would say next. He looks at me with wide eyes and I turn to face the admirals again. "... decided to teach you by ourselves, as captain Mitchell didn't do it properly. We are-," and right now, nobody cares that they're all if superiors. "No, no, no, no, no, we can't do that, Maverick taught us everything we needed to know, he made us improve, we've never been so close to success-" "You have not been asked, lieutenant Seresin." Hangman sighs in annoyance, turning to look for our support. "Actually, I think he's right. We can't do it without him," Rooster adds. "Yeah, we almost got the canyon in two and a half minutes, we now can take the 9G, we improved in shooting the target, we-" "Lieutenant Trace. Enough," admiral Bates adds, sending me a death glare.
They're not used to us disapproving anything, the Navy being particularly strict on the framework and superiors.

"You won't have two and a half minutes to fly in the canyon, but four," admiral Simpson says, the screen showing our new goal. "We'll get shot like rabbits," Coyote insists. "Will you all shut up and let us teach you," admiral Bates raised his voice.