Spitfire | Top Gun: Maverick

chapter 9

"Be careful of love. It'll twist your brain around and leave you thinking up is down and right is wrong." - anonymous

Chapter 9: Some burnt bacon and inquiring mothers

While eyes flutter open slowly, a hand reaches forward to drag down a face - the skin feeling sticky and dry as the tear tracks from the previous night were very much still evident. Spitfire stays staring at the unknown ceiling while the events of yesterday play like a broken record in her mind.

She shakes her head before rubbing the sleep from her eyes, glancing towards her right only to see her phone on the wooden bedside table before reaching forward to grab it - only to groan as she realises that the battery is dead.

Did Rooster take me home after I fell asleep? Thinking to herself as she sits upright, scanning the room she had been placed in. The room was spacious - navy blue being the dominant colour choice as both the bedsheets of the King sized bed and the curtains were displayed in it.

She swings her feet onto the floor before shivering, glancing down at the shockingly cold cement covered ground. She flexes her toes before standing up, stretching her arms above her head while letting out a small groan as her joints all pop back into place.

Walking towards an open door in the room, she breathes a sigh of relief as it leads into an en-suite bathroom. She quickly washes her face and grabs the toothpaste from the counter before finding a spare toothbrush in the counter, hoping Rooster won't mind if she uses it.

She stares at the reflection in the mirror while brushing her teeth, glancing to her messy hair and red eyes. Images flash through her mind as she thinks back to the first night at the hard deck - thinking back to that one particular event that played out in the bathroom.

She shakes her head and finishes up in the bathroom, discarding her thoughts into the back of her mind and walking out of the bedroom and into the hallway. She glances down the narrow path, seeing two more closed doors and a set of stairs leading down.

She makes her way towards the stairs only to hear Rooster's deep voice humming the words of Jailhouse rock by Elvis Presley and it instantly brings a smile to her face.

Following the sound she finds him standing in the kitchen, wearing a white tank top with another Hawaiian shirt, pairing both these tops with some dark jeans. How many of these shirts does this man have?

"Hey sleeping beauty, hope you slept well," Rooster doesn't turn around from where he's facing the stove, cooking what looks to be from her angle like pieces of almost blackened bacon.

She nods her head slowly while glancing around the kitchen, taking the interior in before realising that he can't see her. "I did yeah, thank you for... well taking care of me yesterday. I really appreciate it."

He turns around and she catches sight of the apron he's donning before letting out a chuckle at what had been printed on it. The words "warning: world's grumpiest pilot" was written in black on the white background of the material.

He grins at her expression before explaining that Phoenix gave it to him as a joke for his birthday. After scanning her face for a while his expression turns a bit more serious, "no need to mention it Spitfire - I think we both needed a bit of an outlet."

He turns back to the pan before turning off the flames from the stove.

"I hope you're hungry otherwise this would have been a waste, I haven't cooked a proper breakfast in years!" He turns around with the bacon now placed in a plate and she eyes it before raising her eyebrows at him.