"What Am I To You?"

One

- 1 month out -

Rooster was counting down the months to when he was going to be able to finally go home. He missed home so much. He especially missed his parents.

Maverick had been calling a lot recently. Complaining about how Ice likes the house to be freezing, and how he was tired of the air conditioning actually being in the house.

Rooster loved hearing about the complaining simply because he was able to hear about his family.

After a long day of flying back to back missions, he  went to his room and laid down face first on his bed. He groaned loudly and sighed afterwards. 

He eventually got up and looked around. It was so quiet. He sighed and got up as he thought of his father. And by his father, this meant goose.

He opened his phone and scrolled through his camera roll until he found a picture of him and him and goose. His memories of him were very vague, and blurry at this point in his life.

That really disappointed him. He wished he had more time with him... but he wasn't given the privilege of time.

All his life, he felt like he was rushing to get all the time he could with his family. Even with maverick and Ice.

He felt like he was rushing so he wouldn't miss anything, but that made him feel like his time spent wasn't genuine. He even started to catch himself doing the same with Hangman and the group.

Rooster continued to look at the photo of him and his father until Mavericks name appeared on the screen. He smiled softly and answered.

"Hey dad..." he said with a soft smile. Maverick smiled and chuckled. "Hey kid." Maverick said as he walked on FaceTime.

Rooster saw him holding flowers. "Who are you going to see?" He asked curiously.

"I'll show you in a second." Maverick said as he stopped. Rooster suddenly saw a tombstone in the background. He knew exactly what he was doing.

Rooster felt tears pricking his eyes as he watched maverick place the flowers in front of the grave. "Today is the anniversary of your dad passing..." maverick said as he looked as if he was going to cry as well.

"Wanna listen to me chat with him?" Mav asked rooster. Rooster simply nodded as he wiped his eyes.

Mav looked at Gooses tombstone. "Hey goose... just wanted to come in and check in on you." He said as he cleared his voice. He took a seat on the grass.

"I hope it's nice where you're at. I bet you're probably wondering about Bradley... he's actually here with me. He's on deployment right now. He's doing amazing. I'm so proud of the kid." Maverick wiped his eyes as he smiled sadly.

"You would be so proud... he finally has a boyfriend. They're happily in love. He reminds me so much of you and Carole." Mav said as the memories of Goose and Carole kissing and just being themselves just flooded back.

"You would know what I meant if you saw them." He said with a sad smile. Maverick looked down and had the saddest expression on his face. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry you can't see the amazing man Roo- Bradley has become. You'd be so proud. I'm trying to be a good father figure... I'm trying my hardest." Maverick said as the tears fell.

Rooster watched and simply looked away. He adores maverick. Maverick did so much for him and was so good at what he did.

"You're perfect mav... don't sell yourself short." Rooster said quietly. Mav heard him but just looked at the grave.

"I'm not... I'm far from it. But thank you." Maverick said.

"See you goose. I'll drag Bradley up here when he gets back from deployment. He probably has a lot to sa-" maverick said with a chuckle as he got up.

"Wait! Mav... I actually have something I wanna tell you both." Rooster said as hangman came into the room. Rooster wiped his tears and smiled.

"I'm engaged." He said with a break in his voice.

Maverick looked at him eyes wide. "What?"

"I've been engaged to Jake for about... 2 months. We didn't want to say anything until the right moment, but I felt right now was perfect, since you're here and so is dad."

Maverick covered his mouth and then cheered. "I knew they'd get engaged quick." He said with a chuckle to himself.

Rooster just laughed as Hangman walked over and motioned for the phone. Rooster raised a brow and handed it to him.

Hangman cleared his throat. "I know I did this backwards, but I feel as if this was a critical. So..." he looked at rooster. "I'm asking you for your sons hand." Hangman said.

Rooster smiled softly at him and chuckled. Maverick looked at hangman and smiled softly. "Don't ask me. When you guys get to port, you gotta ask goose."
Maverick said as he started to walk back to the car.

"You have my blessing... but it is more important to have his actual fathers." Maverick said. "Can you do that?"

Hangman nodded. "Absolutely. I will." Mav sensed the drive in his voice, and a faint smile came across his face. "Good... I'll hold you to it. I gotta go. See y'all soon." He waved at the both of them and hung up.

Rooster was shocked. "Are you actually going... to ask him?"

Hangman looked at rooster. "Of course... why wouldn't I?" Rooster smiled faintly at that and nodded. "You're perfect..."

"Nah... I'm close though." Hangman said with a chuckle. Rooster simply got up and walked over to him, kissed his cheek, and looked at him.

"You are perfect." He said.

"Even with all of my issues... with my family, friends, hell myself?" Hangman said curiously.

"Yes. Even with all of the things you consider imperfections, I adore them all. Cause each one of those things you call imperfections made you the Jake I know and love." Rooster said.

Hangman smiled softly and chuckled.

"You definitely have a way with words."