ℳ𝒾𝓇𝒶𝒸𝓁𝑒 𝒩𝓊𝓂𝒷𝑒𝓇 𝒯𝒽𝓇𝑒𝑒 | Top Gun Maverick

Chapter 1 : The bar

"Rooster! Hurry up!" Emily shouted to her boyfriend, he was still getting ready upstairs when they were meant to be at the bar ten minutes ago.

"I'm here, I'm here." He ran down the stairs while putting on his floral shirt.

"And then women take forever to get ready, mh?" She murmured to herself as he was struggling to find the car keys. "Here!" he shouted to get his attention, he turned around and she tossed him the keys, he caught them.

"Alright, shall we?" He asked, pointing to the door in a "royal" manner. Emily chuckled to that and made her way to his car.
As he turned the car on "A thousand miles" by Vanessa Carlton started playing on the radio. His eyes clearly wide, visible even behind his sunglasses.

"Oh yes!" She was over the moon the moment she heard it. This song was such a cliché and she loved it. Just as the chorus came on, she screamed her lungs out. "DUDUDUDUDUDU CAUSE I NEED YOU, DUDUDUDUDUDU AND I MISS YOU-" Rooster changed the song abruptly. "Hey, I was listening to this." She punched his shoulder lightly.

"I hate that song." He reversed the car to get out of the driveway, obviously avoiding eye contact with his girlfriend.

"Well, I love it." She was about to change the song but he stopped her by grabbing her hand.

"Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts her cake-hole." He smirked, still looking at the road.

She was speechless.

"Did you just...use a Supernatural quote on me?" Her mouth agape in pride and surprise.

"Yes. Yes I did." His tone laced with pride. She slouched back into her seat as she let out an offended chuckle. Quoting Tv series? How dare he use her tactics against her?

Once Emily and Rooster had finally arrived, he parked the jeep in front of Penny's bar, also known as 'The Hard Deck'. He got out, slamming his door. Confidence oozing out of him.

"We're late." She complained to him.

"Fashionably late, my dear." He replied sassily and picked up the pace, leaving her slightly behind. The bar was full of people tonight and it wasn't even rush hour.

"Bradshaw! Kazansky! is that you?" Phoenix shouted, catching their attention so that they would head towards her. "Is this how I find out you're state side?" Phoenix smirked at them.

"Yeah I just thought we'd surprise you!" Rooster answered smugly.

Phoenix bent toward the pool table and hit Rooster in the stomach with the stick as she hit the ball, making Emily chuckled as Rooster side eyed her.

"I guess I surprised you back!" she exclaimed turning around with a satisfied smile.

"It's good to see ya!" Rooster said, still bending from the pain.

"Good to see you too." she said and he touched her shoulder before walking past her.

"Nice one Phoenix!" Em congratulated her as she came in for a hug.

"Knew you'd like it." when she pulled away, she winked and kept on playing pool, she then proceeded to introduce them to the rest of the team. Suddenly the music changed to Slow ride.

"Bradshaw! as I live and breathe" A familiar voice spoke.

"Hangman! You look... good" Rooster greeted as Hangman bent down to take the shot at pool.

"Well...I am good Rooster!" He took the shot and got up, looking directly at Rooster "I'm really good! In fact, I am too good to be true!" he said smugly, Emily and Phoenix gave each other an annoyed look, caused by his cockiness. "Kazansky!" He pointed at Emily "You on the other hand, look too good to be true!" he winked at her but she only rolled her eyes at him.

"Yeah she does, doesn't she?" Rooster intervened, Em looked over to him and noticed the look in his eyes. If looks could kill, Hangman would be 12 feet underground.

"So...anybody know what this special detachment is all about?" Fanboy tried to change the subject to avoid conflict.

"No, mission's a mission. They don't confront me" Hangman retorted "What I wanna know: who's gonna be team leader?" He took another shot at pool. "And which one of y'all has what it takes to follow me?" he said as he looked around, obviously judging them all.

"Hangman, the only place you'll lead anyone is an early grave." Rooster said proudly making Em snort a little, the others looked somewhat impressed and amused all except for Coyote, his smile fell instantly. Rooster had gotten way more confident and smug lately and she was not complaining.

Hangman quietly stood up from the pool table and walked towards Rooster, eying her and Phoenix up when he went past the two women. His expression impossible to decipher.

"Well anyone who follows you is just gonna run out of fuel." He mocked "But that's just you, ain't it, Rooster?" Rooster just listened with a slight smile on his face, it was only a facade to hide the anger boiling up inside of him. "You're snug on that perch, waiting for just the right moment..." Hangman walked closer to him "...that never comes." Rooster's expression stayed the same, but he had nothing to say. "I love this song!" Hangman said happily and walked away, Rooster looked annoyed and almost sad as he followed him with his gaze.

"Well he hasn't changed." Phoenix tried to lighten up his mood. Emily smiled a little to what she said and so did Rooster.

"Nope, sure hasn't." He answered back and walked away from them. Em looked at him, debating whether she should go after him or leave him be.

"Check it out!" Fanboy said out of the blue "More patches." Now her attention was no longer on Rooster but on the other aviators.

"That's Harvard, Yale, Omaha. Shit! That's Fritz." Payback noticed.

"What the hell kind of mission is this?" Fanboy asked confused and almost concerned, he sure was the opposite of Hangman.

"That's not the question we should be asking." Phoenix answered him.

"I mean...it's a pretty good question." Emily added and Phoenix gave her an annoyed look that made her shut up instantly.

Ignoring her remark, she continued. "Everyone here is the best there is...who the hell are they gonna get to teach us?"

"Guess we'll find out tomorrow." Emily answered her, shrugging. She then looked around to find Rooster but she knew where he was the moment the music abruptly stopped. Everyone booed but a smile formed on her face as she knew what was coming. Rooster sat at the piano and started to warm up a little while she made her way over to him.

"Hey guys, come on!" Phoenix invited the others as she followed Emily.

Emily was beside Rooster. Bob, Phoenix, Fanboy and Payback were on her left, just a few centimeters away.

Out of the blue, a bell rung and people started to cheer and shout "overboard" but she didn't really care about what the fuss was all about, she was too focused listening to Rooster playing, the way his hands smoothly moved their way on the piano, how concentrated he was.

"I'll be back in a sec." Payback excused himself to go help throw, whoever it was, out of the bar. She looked behind but could not make out who it was due to the crowd of people gathered around.

"What do you say? Shall we sing the usual?" Rooster asked her, snapping her full attention to him once more. She smiled and nodded to him. "Hey Rooster, you big stud!"

"That's me honey." He looked at her, his smile wide.

"Take me to bed or lose me forever." she stomped her foot on the floor.

"Show me the way home, honey!" He looked at her while still playing the piano, his eyes never leaving hers.

The people now started to chant his name, so he started to play Great balls of fire by Jerry Lee Lewis. This was the song his dad used to play all the time, he still plays it to this day to pay his respects to Goose.