certainarbiterphantom

[certainarbiterphantom]

[certainarbiterphantom]

haha this is such a funstory of the darts

jakes so good at darts because post breakup he used to practice his aim with pictures of rooster. the mustache was the bullseye, of course.

javy wholeheartedly encouraged this activity.

penny came over to stop him after the first time she saw him doing it at the hard deck, but after a very convincing talk with jake she was like... well... and mav’s face joined his son’s on the dartboard. penny, as it turns out, is very good at darts too.

after they make up, bradley sees the pictures jakes got in his wallet and hes like aw babe you carry around pictures of me? and jake goes oh yeah! watch this! and he shows bradley just how accurately he can hit that mole beneath the corner of his eye.

[certainarbiterphantom]

this is so lovely and sappy i love it

bradley’s house feels empty. it’s always a bit of a shock, to step over the threshold from sunny, sandy san diego into the gaping abyss of his old house. it’s felt that way for nearly as long as he can remember.

first, it was the absence of nick bradshaw. his mother, bless her soul, tried so hard–goose’s old knickknacks spilling over shelves and table surfaces, the ever-permeating smell of recipes gathered from the other military wives (always with just a tinge of burning), the garden she kept in full bloom–but she was just one woman and the house was built for a family, not a widow and her four year old son. bradley remembers pockets of silence. nights with carole staring blankly at the tv, the only source of light and sound, some game show host’s plastic laugh echoing into the ceiling.

and then carole died and bradley fled the nest for maverick (and iceman’s) home.

when he finally returned, a man now, he couldn’t even make it through the door. no dad. no mom. no maverick. but there was ice on the phone laying out his options. selling it is even more unthinkable than living in it.

so bradley rents it out. to families, couples, rowdy groups of college kids. he hopes it fits them better than it ever did him.

then the mission happens and recuperating in the barracks sounds even worse than if he’d just laid down in the snow and died, so back to the house it is.

natasha had dropped him off at the door, worried eyes as he took a fortifying breath and opened the door to darkness, but he waved her off. he’s been alone with the silence for a few days. no matter how many lamps he turns on or how many windows he opens, it’s all so cold and dark and quiet. hollow.

that changes quickly.

jake muscles his way through bradley’s door and bradley can’t even stop him, his and mav’s crash landing leaving him with a limited range of mobility.

Keep reading

[certainarbiterphantom]

spinning out (waiting for ya)

summary: “What if we borrowed Mav’s plane? You said it’s ready to go, right? It shouldn’t take long for us to drive out to Mojave and start that sucker.” Bradley stared at him. Dear god, he married an insane person. "You're not serious, right?" "Nevermind," Jake huffed. "There's no landing strip at the school." "Right, 'cause that's the only problem with your idea." or, the one where Kinsley gets stuck at school and Bradley struggles trying to calm Jake down.

pairing: Jake "Hangman" Seresin x Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw

warnings: cursing, like always

word count: 2k

author's note: adorbs hangster being adorbs. also the second fic in the hangster!dads universe, deservedly being called my dads are better than yours

“Jesus Christ,” Bradley muttered, shutting the door behind him. He paused by the door, waiting until he could feel his limbs warm up again, the water dripping down his coat on the door mat, forming a puddle. Shuddering, he unzipped his raincoat and hung it on the coat rack, toeing his shoes off. 

Jake jogged up the stairs of the basement, raising a brow at Bradley, who was still standing by the door, looking absolutely miserable. The corner of Jake’s mouth ticked up in a smile, but he hid it, wrapping Bradley in a warm towel he brought from the dryer. 

“I hate rain,” Bradley mumbled, being the Californian raised man that he was, his teeth chattering, while Jake rubbed his back comfortingly. “I can’t believe the storm’s already hitting so hard today. It wasn’t supposed to get worse until tomorrow.”

Bradley’s lower lip jutted out and it takes a lot for Jake not to laugh out loud. But Bradley had volunteered to make the yard and front porch storm-safe, despite hating rain, so Jake figured he was allowed to whine a bit. 

“I know babe, we’re lucky we still got everything done in time. You should take a shower before we have to leave to pick up Kinsley…” Jake said, looking Jake over. “Or I can go by myself, if you don’t want to leave the house again?”

“No,” Bradley immediately protested. “You’re not going by yourself. The streets are flooded and you tend to drive like a crazy person. Give me ten minutes.”

He pressed a quick kiss on Jake’s lips, before racing up the stairs to the bathroom, taking two steps at once. Bradley really did not want to leave the house again until the rain had stopped, but when Kinsley had left for school that morning, the weather hadn’t been that bad yet, so Jake and Bradley had agreed to let her go. But by now, he really regretted letting her go. After taking a quick (hot!) shower, he put on some comfortable clothes, heading back downstairs. 

“Hey babe, you ready to go?”

Bradley looked out of the window as he pulled his coat on, pulling a face when the street in front of their house was even more flooded than ten minutes earlier. They really needed to leave now if they wanted to get to Kinsley’s school before it got even worse.

“I am ready, let’s go,” Jake said, pulling a coat over his sweater. 

Reaching for the car keys, Bradley braced himself to step out back into the rain, when his phone chimed rather obnoxiously. He glanced at it, cursing. 

“What is it?” Jake asked, already trying to push him out of the door. 

“I just got an alert from the National Weather Service, the main streets are blocked for traffic. We can’t get to Kinsley.”

“What?!”

Jake immediately pulled his phone out as well, shaking his head as he read the notification on the screen. 

“They can’t do that, can they?”

“I am pretty sure they just did, babe,” Bradley sighed, walking over to the living room and taking a seat on the couch. When he realized Jake hadn't followed him, he looked up to see his husband staring at him. 

“What are you doing?”

“Sitting down?”

“Get up! We need to get Kinsley from school.”

Bradley blinked at Jake, unsure if he hadn’t heard him say that the streets were blocked. “Did you not hear what I said? The streets are blocked.”

“Well, then we’ll unblock them. We’re Captains for the Navy.”

“We both know it doesn’t work like that.”

Jake pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. “I’ll try the school. There’s got to be something we can do.” Bradley watched him dial the school’s phone number, and the ringback tone sounded twice, before-

“The number you dialed is currently busy, please try again later.”

“Son of a bitch!”

With a sigh, Bradley pushed himself off the couch and walked over to Jake, gently steering him to sit down, before joining him. 

Jake was a control freak. He religiously checked their thermostat three times a day to make sure no one had changed it from what he deemed the “perfect temperature for a household”, the dishwasher always had to be loaded a certain way and the towels in the bathroom had to be folded by length. There was no way that he would take a street blockage on the way to their daughter well. 

“Look, Kinsley is not the only kid at school right now, I am sure the other parents are also trying to get ahold of their kids,” Bradley tried, waving his phone at Jake when it started blowing up. “See?”

Janet Mueller: the streets in our neighborhood are blocked and my husband and I can’t get to thomas, can anyone pick him up?

kellan winters: the streets are blocked everywhere, janet. 

Gina DiLorenzo: I tried the school but no one is picking up. 

Trisha Reynolds: I was on the phone with the principal. All streets that are accessible to the school are blocked off, there’s no one leaving or entering the school right now. The school is taking care of the kids and the ones who don’t have a cell phone will call their parents soon.

“This is insane. I knew we shouldn’t have let Kinsley go to school,” Jake groaned, tossing his phone on the coffee table. 

“It’s not like we could’ve predicted that it would get this bad,” Bradley pointed out, squeezing Jake’s thigh gently. “Let’s just wait until Kinsley gives us a call, yeah?”

And waiting they did. Which was excruciating. By the time ten minutes rolled around, Bradley was crawling out of his skin, but he tried not to let it show, it would only set off Jake. They both kept staring at their phones on the coffee table, until one of them rang. Jake immediately picked it up, putting it on speaker. 

“Hi daddy!”

Hearing Kinsley’s tinny, but bright voice immediately calms them down, their shoulders sagging in relief.

“Hi honey.”

“Hi sweetheart, are you alright?”

“Yes! Mrs. James said that because of the storm you can’t pick us up, so we’re going to sleep at school tonight!”

Bradley and Jake exchanged looks. “Is that right?” Jake asked. “That sounds like fun.”

“So fun!! Francesca and I put our sleeping bags next to each other in the gym, it will be just like a sleepover!”

“What about dinner? Are you getting any food?” Bradley asked, knowing full well that Kinsley needed to eat or else she wouldn’t get a wink of sleep.

“They’re making mac and cheese, Liv said they put in five different cheeses!”

“Five?! That’s blasphemous,” Bradley exclaimed and Kinsley giggled, before they heard someone talking to her just out of earshot. 

“Mrs. James said I have to say good-bye, the others have to call their parents,” Kinsley then said. 

“Alright then, take care of yourself, okay honey?”

“And call us if there’s anything, Kinsley, you hear me?”

“I will, daddy! Love you both!”

The phone call ended before either men could say their good-byes and Bradley only stared at the phone, while Jake fell back on the couch, huffing in annoyance. 

“I am not letting our daughter sleep in a rat-infested school gym,” he then said, a deep frown on his face. 

“It’s not rat-infested.”

“It might as well be,” Jake argued hotly. “I can’t believe you’re just accepting Kinsley spending the night at the school.”

“What am I supposed to do? The streets are blocked, it’s not like I can drive around them,” Bradley sighed, warily eyeing Jake when he lit up.

“What if we borrowed Mav’s plane? You said it’s ready to go, right? It shouldn’t take long for us to drive out to Mojave and start that sucker.”

Bradley stared at him. Dear god, he married an insane person.

“You’re not serious, right?”

“Nevermind,” Jake huffed. “There’s no landing strip at the school.”

“Right, ‘cause that’s the only problem with your idea.”

Jake glared at him. “I don’t hear any suggestions from you.”

“How about we just relax for a second, hm?” Bradley suggested carefully, taking Jake’s hand in his. “While it isn’t the most ideal situation right now, Kinsley is not in danger and the school is taking care of it the best way they can.”

Jake exhaled deeply, before nodding. 

“I guess I can appreciate the school doing its best. They came highly recommended after all,” he lamented and Bradley chuckled, raising his hand to run his fingers through his husband’s hair. 

“... What are you doing?”

“Trying to calm you down, what do you think?”

“You can’t seduce me.”

“I wasn’t- my god. I was just trying to distract you,” Bradley grumbled, before tilting his head. “You know what? That’s not such a bad idea after all.”

“Bradley!” Jake protested when Bradley unceremoniously flipped him on his back, clambering on top of him. “You’re insane. You can’t possibly think you could distract me with sex while our daughter stuck in school in the middle of a storm.”

Bradley raised an eyebrow at his husband, noticing his reluctance already crumbling. He leaned down and started kissing along Jake’s neck, making him moan. 

“This is wrong,” Jake choked out and Bradley nosed along the spot where he knew Jake was particularly sensitive. 

“Come on, sweetheart, let’s focus on us right now, hm?”

Bradley moved his kisses upwards, until he finally pressed a kiss on Jake’s lips. Jake hummed into the kiss, but as Bradley pulled away for some air, Jake leaned on his arms, scooting back a few inches. 

“We should call her again. Just to make sure she’s okay.”

“And I’ve lost you,” Bradley sighed, sitting up. 

“I am sorry, darlin’ I am just really worried about Kinsley. You know how she gets sleeping in an unfamiliar bed.”

“Well, she’s not really sleeping in a bed.”

Bradley knew those were the wrong words when Jake frowned at him, reaching for the phone.

“It can’t hurt to check up on her.”

Bradley sighed, knowing it was no use arguing with him, and as Jake dialed the school’s phone number, the lights started flickering, before turning off completely, leaving them in darkness, only the occasional lighting outside offering some vision. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I feel like that’s a sign from god that we should relax a bit.”

“Well, I feel like it’s a sign from god to definitely check up on our daughter,” Jake huffed, pressing the dial button. The phone rang once, before ending the call.

“The hell?”

Jake redialled the number, but nothing. 

“The phone towers must be off because of the storm,” Bradley lamented and Jake cursed, rubbing his temples. 

“This cannot be happening right now.”

six unread messages

Janet Mueller: I heard the kids are having mac and cheese for dinner, but thomas is lactose-intolerant, is there any way we can change the menu?

kellan winters: im pretty sure the school has every kid’s allergy list and won’t give him dairy, janet

There was something sharp jabbed into his side and an incessant ringing next to his ear. Bradley peeked an eye open and a ray of sun was shining directly into his eye. When the hell did the sun come back out? The ringing stopped, just as soon as Bradley realized what was ringing the whole time. He sprang up, waking up Jake in the process, who was dozing on his chest, but now glaring at Bradley. 

“What was that for?”

“The phone. It was ringing,” Bradley explained, picking it up. “We must’ve fallen asleep last night.”

The phone started ringing again and Bradley immediately picked up, putting it on speaker. “This is Captain Bradshaw.”

“Hi Mr. Bradshaw, this is Hannah Jones calling from Ocean Beach elementary school, we’re calling to let you know that the streets have been opened back up for traffic. You can pick up your daughter now.”

Jake already scrambled off the couch, while Bradley was trying to hang up. 

“Thank you Ms. Jones!”

“Bradley, come on!”

Janet Mueller: My husband and I are at a polo race right now, we can’t pick up thomas, can anyone take him home?

kellan winters: oh my god, janet.

tagging people who were excited: @aaronsmith94 @kajjaka @utterly-in-like @luckyladycreator2 @idiomaticpunk

[certainarbiterphantom]

have realized that while i am not a fan necessarily of "people meet and immediately fall in love" i am a fan of "people meet and are immediately obsessed with each other." the love can come later but the absolute fixation should be immediate

[certainarbiterphantom]

Maverick "I would sacrifice myself to save the world/you" Mitchell

And

Iceman "I would sacrifice the world for you" Kazansky.

[certainarbiterphantom]

Yeah unless it's done organically and reasonably, the forcible romance doesn't have appeal as the way it should. the storyline and other characters should fit just as well

Maybe I am the only one in this and that's totaly okay but I think people (especially on tiktok) are too greedy.

Like, Okay, yeah. We would all love a happy ending with Rio and Agatha but it wouldn't be realistic. The way they introduced and ended their story was spot on, both for the characters amd future projects.

And I saw a lot of people saying "Oh we lesbians never get a happy ending"- Honestly I wasn't even expecting this much from MCU, I'll take what I can get. And as long as it is good written, the ending really isn’t that important.

I even saw someone saying why Billy took the spotlight that much- GIRL WHAT DO YOU MEAN?? It doesn't make any sense to me.

I feel like a lot of people in our community ignores things like storyline etc. just for the sake of seeing two women kiss. I remember there were people who said the Billy episode was unnecewsary and they just wanted to see more Agathario. Please, just no..

[certainarbiterphantom]

Firm belief that Ice has a "fond exasperated" look reserved for ocassions when he can't outloud say "i told you so"

Carole, about Mav: It's sweet how much you worry about him.

Ice: I do. And I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if he did something stupid and I wasn't there to say "I told you so".

[certainarbiterphantom]

This is just IceMav and you can’t change my mind

[certainarbiterphantom]

it WAS always supposed to be Mav's story so obviously the characters that revolve around him would get the screentime more. but you're right about how powerful fanfiction is. i actually watched the movie after i read a lot of fanfiction so when i realised how short the length of these other characters was in the movie , i was kinda surprised.

after reading so many stories where their actual names are used like Jake Seresin, Natasha Trace, Javy Machado, etc., it’s so crazy to me that not once did they say any of the pilot’s real names in the actual movie except for Bradley who has both Cyclone and Maverick say his first name (his last name is said a lot more) and Maverick (for obvious reasons)

not even like a Lieutenant Trace or a Lieutenant Seresin, they were always just simply referred to as “Lieutenant”

the only time we really see their names are on the beginning screen where Cyclone is showing Mav the 12 pilots and their last names on the tags of their uniforms in the bar scene

everyone is simply referred to as their callsign and even in cast interviews, they introduce themselves using their call signs and never the actual names

come to think of it? i genuinely feel like they weren’t in the movie THAT much because i saw a post that calculated Glen’s screen time and it was like less than five minutes total?

all this to say, fan fiction is SO powerful because this was such a minuscule detail of the movie that we could’ve forgotten about but everyone kind of just took it and ran with and now I can’t see it any other way

[certainarbiterphantom]

Actually this bradley sounds a lot like me

ok i love the angstiness that is "bradley doesn't speak to icemav for fifteen years and doesn't know they got married" BUT may i raise you "bradley is invited to the icemav wedding and decides to put aside his anger for just one day to attend. it is very awkward but he still cries when they say their vows. he doesn't talk to them after the wedding"

[certainarbiterphantom]

ok hangman having a hero crush on iceman is plausible but him having a hero crush on mav is funnier. bradley would not know how to handle either of these so he just doesn't mention that those are his parents hangman is thirsting over

[certainarbiterphantom]

Not the sailor song

Kiss me on the mouth and love me like a sailor

When you get a taste can you tell me what’s my flavor

🌅💙

[certainarbiterphantom]

Shooting star

i need to remember to post my edits on here too because I NEED TO SCREAM ABOUT THEM TO PEOPLE

[certainarbiterphantom]

Mav, during tg 1986: i don't understand why goose is so annoyed at me and Ice we're not THAT annoying

Mav, during tg:m watching bradley and jake: I understand now

[certainarbiterphantom]

Mav, during tg 1986: i don't understand why goose is so annoyed at me and Ice we're not THAT annoying

Mav, during tg:m watching bradley and jake: I understand now

[certainarbiterphantom]

bait argument is so them

Top Gun Silliness