Our Bruised Bodies | Bradley Bradshaw

ACT FOUR - PART TWENTY-FOUR

Cheers!

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"Wipe that sufficient smirk off your face." Ice warned, his arms crossed over his chest as he watched box after box getting carried into the house right next door, while Maverick leaned against one of the pillars that was supporting the weight of their front porch roof.

"Oh come on, let me be happy. For once we seem to get everything we want, just like that." The younger aviator replied, while snapping his fingers together, to emphasise his words, while grinning at Ice, before he turned back around to watch Bradley carry in a brown box, just as Grace instructed the moving crew where to put which box they were getting handed.

"I wanted them to get married and they did. You want them to move in next door and they do. Grace wanted and got her promotion to base Captain and Bradley is getting back into the air very soon. It is nice when things work out." Maverick added, all too excited about how well things were turning out right now. Ice felt that something was coming, that something was off and that it would hit them sooner or later, he just really hoped that all this wasn't about Bradley's fist hop in two days, because he wasn't sure they would survive this time, should something happen to him. Maverick and Grace barely survived last time.

"Stop it, I don't want you to curse us." Ice muttered, his arms firmly crossed over his chest. "Things are working in our favour for now, but you know us, sooner or later someone is going to fuck this all up. It doesn't even have to be one of us." Ice pointed out, which had Maverick turn to look over his shoulder at the man he had been in love with for the last 25 years.

"What?" Ice wondered a bit annoyed by Pete's starring.

"I just can't imagine how anything could destroy all of this. I mean Gracie can even have a child and still climb the ranks, now that she will have a desk only job. Add to our little family." Pete told Ice, raising his eyebrow suggestively, who wondered how Maverick could see the world through tinted glass after all these years, which should have thought him by now, that nothing was ever easy in their lives.

"Don't bring that up." He warned the younger aviator.

"Oh, come on, don't be like that. I know that you want grandchildren too, even more that I do, I might add." Mitchell replied pointing his finger at Ice accusingly, before he pushed himself away from the pillar and took a step over to stand behind Ice, only to rest his chin on his shoulder.

"I mean it, Mav. Don't bring it up with Grace. Let them settle." Tom warned, while he reached over his shoulder and used his palm to push Maverick's face away, which had the slightly younger man groan, while he pushed his lover's hand off his face. "We should let everything settle a bit, before fate, zodiacs, some God or something else knocks us to our asses for our hubris and blasphemy." Ice muttered.

"You don't believe in any of that." Pete reminded good naturally. "And blasphemy is more your daughter's thing with her being viewed as the Navy's new messiah." He added, a grin on his face, that told how ridiculous he thought the entire situation.

"Don't joke about that. I have seen the people I love suffer enough. I'm not ready for anything more." Pete was about to say something to reassure Ice that their family was safe and that nothing would ever again happen to them, because they were all together again, stronger than ever, but Bradley called out to them, before Pete could speak up.

"Are you guys going to help us or not?" The young man wanted to know, which had Ice move towards his son-in-law, while Pete rested back against the pillar.

"You're doing so great, honey. We didn't want to distract you." Pete called out, only for Bradley and Ice, who was now standing right next to him roll their eyes in union. The younger one shared a look with his father-in-law, before nodding at a few boxes that still needed to be carried inside, before Bradley left with his own box, only to put it down in front of their new coffee table standing in the living room. He was about to go back outside to collect another box, as arms slung themselves around his middle and a face was pressed against the back of his shoulder plate.