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thatlovinfeelin · 2 years

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Eye Of The Storm - two- Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw

Baby Kazansky OC X Rooster

One

“God, I feel like my head is going to split,” Beth groaned the next morning.

“Well, pull yourself together. My dad is having a garden party of sorts in two hours,” Molly pointed out, pinning back the front pieces of her hair.

“A garden party?” Erika groaned, “God, that sounds horrible.”

“Why do you think I told you guys to pack nice dresses,” Molly laughed, pulling out a lightweight sundress, “It’s to celebrate the success of a recent mission or something.”

“Then can we go to the beach?” Beth begged.

“Yes, trust me, you’re going to want to get drunk on the beach,” Molly teased, “These things are always so boring. We just have to stay long enough to make my dad happy. So look like sweet little college seniors, please.”

“Us? Sweet?” Erika laughed, “Bliz, c’mon. We all know you’re just as crazy as the rest of us.”

“Not when I’m Admiral Kazansky’s daughter,” She pointed out, “I can’t be Blizzard while I’m here.”

“Your dad is literally called Iceman and you’re saying you can’t be Blizzard?” Beth questioned, “You’re an adult, and you’re still going to play daddy’s little princess?”

Molly sighed, sinking down onto her bed. She knew the two young women in front of her knew her better than anyone else. They saw more than she ever let anyone outside of the apartment see. Hell, she let them in more than the rest of their team. She tried for years to keep up a certain reputation, because it was all she had.

“The last year and a half was a mistake, and we aren’t going to mention it,” Molly said quietly, “I’m graduating soon, and coming back here. I got into UCLA’s masters program. I’ll likely spend every weekend here….I can’t be Bliz anymore. It’s time to be Molly Kazansky, daughter of the great Admiral Kazansky, Commander of the Pacific Fleet.”

Beth took a seat next to her on the bed, wrapping an arm around her shoulder, “You’ll suffocate if you live like that.”

“I made that choice when I accepted UCLA’s offer. If it means I have to put Bliz in a little box and shove her under my bed, I will.”

The other two girls shook their heads. Molly wasn’t wild at school, but less than forty eight hours ago, she was out drinking half of a frat and making out with several of them in the corner. She was known to have fun and be wild, yet too closed off to let anyone get close to her. She didn’t date, she just had fun. She didn’t party during the week or during the back half of the volleyball season, so she could focus on school and the game. She worked hard, but when she wanted to, she played even harder.

“Just get ready please? And look like you belong at a very respected admiral’s garden party. You can borrow anything from my closet that you need,” Molly told them, walking into her small bathroom.

An hour later, Molly stood next to her parents, making small talk with guests. Her sweet smile was mostly genuine, as she hadn’t seen many of them in years. But at the same time, she couldn’t wait to get out and go to the beach with the girls.

Her hair was sticking to the back of her neck, her chiffon sundress didn’t breathe either, causing her to be endlessly uncomfortable. Yet she kept smiling and nodding while politely answering the few questions that she was asked. The perfect little girl returned home.

“It’s nice to see you again, Molly,” Pete Mitchell gave her a quick hug, “Last time I saw you, you still had braces.”

Molly forced back the embarrassment that tried to flood her, “Good to see you too, Captain Mitchell. If I recall, you were a Captain last time I saw you.”

He raised his eyebrows before letting out a laugh, “Ah, but I’m a highly decorated Captain now.”

“I hear you were the reason the mission succeeded though,” Molly pointed out, “So, it seems we owe you our thanks, once again.”

“Oh, I didn’t do it on my own,” Pete assured her, turning to get another man’s attention, “I had a lot of help. Molly, meet Rooster Bradshaw.”

Her fake sickly sweet smile fell, because the man that turned around was the same man from the bar. Brad, or at least that’s what he said. She assumed Rooster was his callsign. She let out a deep breath, shifting on her feet quickly before forcing another smile onto her face.

He seemed to have the same reaction, faltering for a split second before recovering and making his way over. He smiled, shaking her father’s hand and giving her mother a quick hug. They seemed to be acquainted with one another. She could only assume that happened while she was away.

“This is our youngest, Molly,” her father said, smiling proudly at her, “She’s getting ready to graduate from UConn, with a degree in engineering.”

“Nice to meet you,” Molly said sweetly, holding her hand out, “You must be one hell of a pilot to keep up with my Uncle Maverick.”

He licked his lips, trying not to smirk at her, “Well, I try Miss. It’s nice to meet you as well. I’ve heard a great deal about you from Maverick.”

Off to the side, Erika and Beth were huddled together, eyeing their friend and the Lieutenant. While they were pretty tipsy the night before, they knew it was the same guy. They also knew the flush that was rising up Molly’s cheeks and chest wasn’t just from the Californian heat. They looked at their friend with a mischievous smile.

“If you’ll excuse me, I think I’m going to get a lemonade. It’s a little hot,” Molly said sweetly, still looking at Rooster.

“Oh, actually honey, if you could get some more deviled eggs from the kitchen? It looks like we’re almost out,” Her mother asked her, “Maybe one of the girls could help you?”

“I can help her, ma’am,” Rooster spoke, suddenly standing straighter again, “If that’s okay with you?”

Molly nodded softly, “I’ll lead the way.”

They walked quietly to the back door. Bradley held the back door open for Molly, stepping aside so she could enter. Molly took a deep breath, letting the AC cool her body. She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand before making her way over to the fridge.

“I have to put them on the trays first, you know, make them look nice,” Molly didn’t glance behind her as she reached for the fridge.

“You never mentioned who you were,” Brad, or Rooster, said lowly from the other side of kitchen island.

She shrugged, grabbing a tray and setting it down behind her, “You didn’t ask.”

He watched as she moved around the kitchen. She seemed almost smaller today than she did last night. There was something about this Molly that seemed vastly different from the girl who seemed larger than life in the bar last night.

“You’re in college,” He stated, “and the Admiral’s daughter.”

“You say that like he’s the only Admiral,” She rolled her eyes, lining up the eggs on a platter.

“Considering who your father is, he’s the only one that matters,” He pointed out, voice lowering even more.

Her back was still to him, which meant that he couldn’t see the way she paused. The way her face fell. Sometimes she hated being a Kazansky, because of the way people acted around her, how it changed everything.

She gripped the door of the refrigerator, forcing a deep breath to fill her lungs before turning around, “Look, last night I was just a girl in a bar. All that happened was that you saved me from some very pushy young pilot. I was just a girl in a bar.”

“How old are you, Molly?” He didn’t want to ask, he didn’t want to know, but he needed to.

She closed her eyes, head hung low, “Twenty-one.”

He cursed under his breath, taking a few steps away. For some reason, Molly felt like she was doing something that she shouldn’t, breaking rules she didn’t even know existed. She felt like a small child who got caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

“Guess I’m not just a girl in a bar anymore,” She whispered.

“I wish you were,” He admitted softly.

She nodded, putting the last of the deviled eggs on the platter, “Believe me, so do I, Lieutenant Bradshaw. But I don’t get to be her while I’m here.”

She shook her head and cleared her throat, “If you’ll take this platter, I’ll get the other one.”

She seemed smaller and smaller as she made her way to the back door. He watched as she paused, straightening her shoulders like she was getting ready to walk back into the lion’s den. He could see the precise moment she changed and put on the act. He could see how she suddenly became the perfect admiral’s daughter.

He couldn’t help but wonder who the girl he saw last night really was. Or if he could somehow see her again. He liked the way she smiled, an almost dangerous sort of smile. He liked the confidence she seemed to have as she walked away from him last night, the sly glance back over her shoulder.

Twenty minutes later, Molly walked back towards her parents, Erika and Beth just behind her, “Pardon the interruption, would you mind terribly if the girls and I left? I promised I’d take them to the beach today.”

“Oh, of course honey. Just stay close to The Hard Deck so Penny can keep an eye on you,” Her mother said softly.

“Oh, already planning on it,” She met Bradley’s eyes from across the yard, “Penny said she was going to help Amelia with her homework on the deck. We’ll stay close, I promise.”

Rooster took note of the way she smiled sweetly, but how her eyebrows raised slightly when she turned away from her parents and faced him. Fanboy shoved his shoulder, telling him to cool off staring at her. But he caught the shift again, seeing the prim and proper, quiet and studious daughter melt away to something else.

Her two friends waved at the three pilots before disappearing into the house. The girls laughed all the way up the stairs. Dresses went flying the second they were back in Molly’s room, being replaced with bikinis and tank tops. Molly yanked the pins out of her hair and tossed it up into a ponytail before slipping on her flip flops.

“Do you still have that easy set up net?” Erika questioned.

“Already in the back of the truck,” Molly laughed, “Now c’mon, we gotta go out through the front so we avoid everyone.”

“Whatever, you two better get ready for me to kick your asses on the beach,” Beth joked.

“Did you forget that I had the best hitting percentage in the Big East last season?” Molly questioned.

“I didn’t forget,” Erika groaned, “I had a concussion at the beginning of the season because of you.”

“Yeah yeah, she’s got an arm on her. Faster we get out there, the faster we can play, and the faster I can tan.”

Molly laughed, grabbing her friends hands and dragging them back down the steps. She could still hear the gentle music from the party in the backyard, but it was drowned out by the sound of her two friends laughing.

The three of them made a break for Molly’s pickup truck, throwing their bags in the back. Molly was buzzing, ready to feel the sand between her toes. Being away from the water like this was one of the things she hated most about being all the way at UConn. She traded the beach for blizzards.

“Where are you sneaking off to, Miss Kazansky?”

Molly spun around, seeing Bradley leaning against the garage with two other guys behind him, “Going to play some volleyball on the beach. You and your friends are welcome to join, Lieutenant.”

“You can bring those too, you might need them,” Beth called, hanging out of the window of the truck, “Molly here has quite the arm on her.”

Molly coughed, turning to glare at Beth, “They dodge missiles and fly fighters for a living.”

“And? You fire missiles of your own. Now get in the damned truck and let’s go.”

Molly looked back over at Bradley one last time, giving him that same smile again, before she climbed into the driver’s seat of her truck. The other girls gave her hell the whole drive over to The Hard Deck, but even that stopped the moment they all got on the beach. There was silence as they set up the volleyball net. There was something about beach volleyball, just having fun with friends, that made Molly feel free again.

Penny and Amelia watched from the back deck of the bar, trying not to laugh. The girls played singles, making the person on the other side of the net really work for every point. Molly already had sweat dripping down her face and back, but she loved it. Her shorts were long forgotten on her towel, leaving her in her bikini and tank top.

“C’mon Moll, slam her!” Erika yelled from her spot on the towels, “No mercy.”

Molly laughed as she set the ball up high enough for her to maneuver for the hit. She flew through the air, swinging her arm with almost too much force as she connected with the ball. Her breath came out as a grunt as she connected to the ground again. Beth didn’t even seem to have time to think about the ball before it was already landing in the sand.

“God, she wasn’t kidding.”

Erika looked up, seeing Bradley standing next to her, “No, Beth wasn’t joking. Molly becomes a whole different person on the court. There’s a reason she was team captain too.”

He smiled, watching her play. Her friend was right, Molly seemed like a different person. Last night she was confident and larger than life, at her house she was meek and agreeable, but on the court like this she was fierce and unstoppable. Even though she was the only one to cover her half of the court, she managed with ease.

“Look, I don’t know why you decided to come, or what kind of hold you already seem to have over her. But between you and me, she has a fragile heart. She’ll act like she doesn’t, but she does. Beth and I might be the use once and walk away kind of girls, but Molly isn’t. So, think long and hard before you get involved with her, flyboy.”

He cleared his throat and bent down to be at eye level with Erika, “I’m not one of those guys.”

Erika scoffed, “No, you are. Even if you don’t want to admit it. Because one way or another, you will leave. She’s special, the faster you realize that the better.”

“And why exactly are you telling me this?” Bradley questioned.

“Look, Bradshaw, was it? I’ve known Molly for a really long time, and she’s never really looked at guys. Claimed she never had time for them. The guys tried, believe me, but no one ever won her over. Yet, you’ve had two conversations with her, and she’s acting…well she’s acting more like herself than I think I’ve ever seen. So, be careful with her. That’s why I’m telling you, because she’ll be all in before she even realizes it.”

“WOOOOO that’s game!” Molly cheered as the ball slammed down one last time, “If I hit that thing any harder it would’ve been on fire.”

“I know, I had to dive out of the way so I didn’t lose my head,” Beth laughed.

The two high fived before Molly jumped on Beth. Erika couldn’t help but smile, their days of playing collegiate volleyball were over, but she knew the three of them would always be a team in some way. Even if it would just be beach games from time to time.

“Oh, you came,” Molly froze the second she turned to see Bradley standing next to Erika, “I didn’t think you’d actually come.”

“Is it okay that I did?” He questioned.

“No- I mean yeah, I did tell you where we’d be,” She fumbled, “Uh, Erika, it’s your turn to get your ass kicked.”

Erika laughed, smacking the back of Molly’s shoulder as she walked by her. Molly hissed, automatically doubling over and grabbing her shoulder. She groaned and cursed, doing her best to keep her arm steady. Beth dropped the volleyball, running over to her friend.

“You okay? Is it dislocated?” Erika gently put a hand on Molly’s back.

“No, not fully,” Molly shook her head, straightening up a little.

“Are you alright?” Bradley knew she was in pain, yet she was still trying to smile.

“It’s an old volleyball thing,” She explained, “I technically need surgery. But I’m alright, just need to pop it back in.”

“Up and over?” Erika questioned.

Molly nodded, bracing herself. Bradley clenched his fists, hating to see anyone in pain. She swung her arm in a way that forced it back into socket. He watched the way her body sagged, and how her two friends took care of her.

“Alright, sit and use a beer from the cooler as an ice pack,” Erika seemed to order, “Do you still have Advil in your bag?”

“Yes, you know I always have some,” Molly rolled her eyes, “Go play, I’ll be fine.”

Molly plopped down on one of the beach towels, motioning for Bradley to join her. She grabbed two beer out of the cooler and handed one to Bradley, holding the ther one on her shoulder. She sighed, sinking down into the sand.

“Does that happen a lot?” Bradley asked after a few minutes.

“Not as much now that I’m not playing all of the time,” She shrugged, “I got really good at popping it back in after a play.”

“So, you were really serious about volleyball, weren’t you?”

She shrugged, wincing a bit as she did, “Yeah, I mean it was my life for a while. It was a really good distraction, kept me from thinking about where everyone was and if they were okay. I don’t know, I guess I just channeled everything into it. Next thing I knew, I was playing at UConn.”

“I was that way with baseball,” He admitted.

She looked over at him, studding him for a moment, “You look like a baseball guy, in a good way.”

He forced back a laugh and took a long drink from his beer, “How long are you here for?”

“Spring break and Easter break manage to back up to each other this year. So, Erika and Beth are leaving at the end of the week so they can spend time with their families. I’ll probably end up driving down to UCLA to check out my tiny shoe box apartment at some point.”

“UCLA?”

She watched the way a smile spread across her face as she looked back over at him. Her eyes even seemed to twinkle. There was a pink tint to her cheeks and nose, he wasn’t sure if she was blushing or if it was from the sun, but he liked it.

“Yeah, I’m going there for my Masters. I didn’t want to stay in San Diego so I picked LA. It’s only a couple of hours, so I figured I could drive back on the weekends. Maybe see friends and stuff.”

She felt her body heating up, but not from the sun. The way he was looking at her made her want to squirm away, or climb on him. She wasn’t entirely sure. His eyes were soft, kind even, but there were layers to him. Like there was a lot right under the surface just waiting to be seen. She licked her lips, trying to break the haze that seemed to set in over her.

“What are you doing tonight?” He asked, shifting a little closer to her.

She took a deep breath before smiling, “I don’t know, Lieutenant Bradshaw, what am I doing tonight?”

She tried to look confident, for the sake of the man sitting next to her. Molly didn’t want him to know that her heart was beating so hard and fast that her chest almost hurt. She wasn’t entirely sure that she could breathe properly either. She didn’t get nervous around guys, she never allowed them to have that kind of power over her.

But now she was worried that she might say or do the wrong thing. Or that she wouldn’t be the right kind of girl for the pilot sitting next to her. She wanted the chance to get to know him, really know him. For the first time, she wanted someone to really get to know her too.

Slowly, as they looked at each other on the beach, she began to realize one very complicated fact. She just wanted him.

#bradley rooster bradshaw #rooster x reader #rooster bradshaw #rooster top gun #rooster bradshaw imagine #bradley bradshaw #bradley bradshaw x reader #top gun maverick #top gun #top gun 2 #top gun imagine

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majac08 · 1 year

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Last Man Standing Great Balls of Fire

Bradley Bradshaw x OC!Mitchell (Commander Hailey Mitchell)

"I tell my kids about him, about my great love story, and I'll be damned if one of us dies before I do what I promised Ice I would"

TW Deals with themes of war, death, grief, alcoholism, suicide, depression 18+

Top Gun was always made out to be a once in a lifetime opportunity, like there was nothing that could possibly beat it, or that it would never come around again. But life is a bitch and will throw everything it has at you, be prepared for the unexpected because it will happen and you will find a way through it.

Yet here Haillie Mitchell stood, returning to Top Gun 10 years after graduating, she had never expected to be back. She never expected to be back here obviously, but also she ever expected to be back in a position to fly. Iceman had ordered her out of the sky just under 2 and a half years before after he came out to visit her in the aftermath of the final missions destroying the enemy fleet that had destroyed the naval base at Pearl Harbor, killing 2207, and he saw a traumatised, grieving, practically suicidal girl. Not woman, not pilot. Girl. He had ordered her to be grounded until he deemed her fit to fly, so for two and a half years she had been in radio control. Until now.

"Everyone here is the best of the best, so who the hell are they going to have teach us?" Natasha questioned, looking around at the group of aviators currently sat beside her.

"I think the better question is which one of us here is the best pilot, Phoenix." Jake chuckled lowly, presuming that most would agree it was him.

"Hails?" Bob practically yelled across the Hard Deck. They turned to look where Bob was gesturing, seeing a woman with a bag slung over her shoulder. Seconds after they all had started staring, she turned to notice them.

"Oh thank fucking god you two are here." Bob smiled at the comment, but Phoenix was still confused and slightly unimpressed.

"Why the hell are you here?" She asked, arms folded over her chest.

"I'm just finally paying off my debt to Penny, the 10 year deadline has finally rolled around." The other woman replied, coming closer to the group, but Phoenix still kept her arms crossed over her chest, refusing to move further forwards. Bob, however did, he took a few steps towards her before giving her a hug. Phoenix just scoffed.

"Now you're looking at the owner of the best bar in the Pacific region." Bob proudly told Hangman, Hailey ducked her head. She hated it when Bob insisted on praising the bar in other bars, it didn't feel right.

"So you know Commander Mitchell then?" Jake questioned, she nodded. "Well I heard she was a dick." Bob nearly spat out his drink.

"Yeah, something like that." She mumbled, not particularly wanting any of them to know the truth. Luckily, their attention was soon brought to the final aviator arriving.

"Bradshaw! As I live and breathe," Hangman smirked as the Lieutenant with the Hawaiian shirt made his way to the group. Hailey immediately turned away from him, not wanting a scene and not wanting any of these complete strangers to know anything else about her.

"Hangman, you look good." He replied, removing his aviators.

"I am good Rooster, in fact I am too good to be true." Jake told him, not even looking at the pool table as he pocketed one of the balls. Natasha walked around the table and as she was about to hit Rooster in the stomach with the cue, he moved. To get a better look. A better look at her.

"Hailey?" He asked, convinced his eyes were deceiving him. She turned to look at him properly.

"Hey Brad." She replied calmly. He raised an eyebrow, she hardly ever called him Brad.

"How do you-"

"Our old men flew together, we grew up right next door to each other." He interrupted Fanboy, she was surprised to say the least. Hailey was almost certain he'd yell at her, it's all they seem to do when they were together anyways.

There was a short silence, before the game continued and so did conversation. "Tell me that wasn't the guy who broke you in the academy." Bob pleaded, he'd heard the story from Mac and Derek and quite frankly did not want to have to try and like someone he'd have to trust with his life.

"Okay... I won't tell you that." She smirked back, taking some of the nuts he'd been chewing and crunching them in her mouth. "I'm going to head to the ladies room, I'll be right back." She told him as she weaved her way through the crowd, passing Penny Benjamin.

"If it isn't my best customer, from what 10 years ago now Mitch?" The older woman smiled.

"Nice one, I've come to repay my debts." She told her, pulling out three shot glasses, "There, my final repayment all done."

"Try four sweetheart." She laughed, moving to give the younger woman a hug, which was reciprocated. "I'm so sorry to hear about Derek." Penny told her, concern lacing her voice.

"Yeah me too." Hailey replied, "I've got to go Pen, but I'll see you around."

"You know it sweetheart."

Hailey existed the rest room, the faint sound of piano keys filled her ears as she stood paralysed at the sight in front of her. Bradley. Playing the piano. Again. As the familiar notes began, she felt her stomach churn.

"You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain Too much love drives a man insane You broke my will, but what a thrill Goodness gracious great balls of fire I laughed at love when I thought it was funny But you came along and you moved me honey I've changed my mind, this love is fine Goodness gracious great balls of fire Kiss me baby, woo, it feels good Hold me baby, ooh, yeah, you gonna love me like a lover should You're fine, so kind, I'm gonna tell this world that you're mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! I chew my nails, I twiddle my thumbs I'm really nervous but it sure is fun Come on baby, you drive me crazy Goodness gracious great balls of fire Ohhh, kiss me baby, woo-oooooo, feels good, yeah Let me love you like a lover should. You're fine. So kind. I gonna tell this world that you're mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! I chew my nails and I twiddle my thumbs I'm real nervous but it sure is fun Come on baby, you drive me crazy Goodness gracious great balls of fire"

The whole bar had sung with him and was now chanting "ROOSTER ROOSTER" repetitively. There was a time when Hailey Mitchell would have gone and gotten so drunk she couldn't walk, but that was 10 years ago, now she was a grown woman who didn't need to get wasted to feel better about her ex boyfriend who totally wasn't most definitely the love you her life. Quickly hurrying past everyone she ran into Bob. "Are you okay?"

"Great balls of fire." She mumbled very distracted, "I can't do this. I'm going back to base, I'll see you tomorrow." She told him and he brought her in for a hug goodbye, kissing the side of her temple affectionately.

"Love you Hailey Mitchell." He smiled.

"Love you too Robert Floyd." She smiled back, before swinging her bag up and over her shoulder and leaving the bar. Something that wasn't missed by one Bradley Bradshaw and he'd be lying if he said his blood didn't boil at the sight of the only person he knew for absolute certain he loved being so cosy with somebody else.

#bradley bradshaw fanfiction #bradley rooster bradshaw #bradley bradshaw #rooster bradshaw fic #bradley bradshaw x oc #miles teller top gun #rooster top gun #rooster imagine #top gun maverick #top gun fanfiction

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ofstoriesandstardust · 2 years

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these secrets i keep - coyote

a/n: i saw a spoiler for purple hearts, got sad, made coyote and rebel a playlist and then wrote this. you’re welcome.

summary: Coyote’s been keeping a secret from his best friend. a huge one. a potentially friendship-ending one. so, he just won’t tell her. that’s a good plan.

and it would’ve been, had Hangman kept his mouth shut.

these secrets i keep- rebel

part of same mistakes-verse

main masterlist | top gun: maverick masterlist

warnings: swearing, mentions of alcohol, mentions of homophobia/racism/growing up in the South, the beginnings of a panic attack, mentions of DADT/AIDS epidemic, like two references to sex, Jake is doing his best, do I know how to write Hangman? idk, a gross overuse of italics, yeah full disclosure i’m coming back to the platonic soulmates thing

word count: 4,930

The car door shut but Jake didn’t pull his keys out to start the car. Coyote glances up at him to see Jake staring at the steering wheel, a concerning look on his face. “Jake, everything okay?”

He was met by a groan and Hangman sliding forward, head meeting the steering wheel. Coyote bit back a grin as he looked at his boyfriend, reaching a hand out to run his fingers through his boyfriend’s hair. “Javy, I fucked up.” He groaned.

“What’d you do?”

“I told her.”

“Told who what? Rebel?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, you told her what exactly?” His hand stilled in Jake’s blond locks, suddenly nervous. Surely Jake wouldn’t have...

“’bout us.” Jake mumbled and Coyote froze. Jake looked up at his boyfriend, taking in his wide eyes and what must’ve been a panicked look on his face. “She didn’t seem mad about it or anything, she said she didn’t care, but I thought she knew. I thought you told her already.”

“I would’ve told you if I had!” He exclaims, cold settling over his body as the alcohol he’d just drank with his friends turning sour in his stomach. He was going to be sick.

“Babe, babe, don’t panic. She said it was fine, she didn’t care, she’s not gonna freak out I promise.” Jake said hurriedly but the voice sounded distant as his ears began ringing. He began to play the night over in his head, looking for a change in his best friend’s behavior that would’ve signaled she knew. There was nothing. He didn’t know if that made him feel better or worse. “Javy? Javy, please don’t panic. Just talk to her about this. Please, it’s gonna be okay.”

“I’m gonna lose my best friend, oh God, this is why I wasn’t gonna tell her Jake!” He says, shifting in his seat as the car suddenly starts to feel too small, too tight, oh God, he couldn’t breathe-

“Javy, Javy, you’re not gonna lose her. She’s not gonna- what are you afraid she’s gonna do?”

“Are you serious? Her godfather, who she loved and adored, was the Commander of the Pacific Fleet, her Dad a highly decorated Naval Captain, both who’ve served during the height of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Not only are you a guy, you’re also white, and she doesn’t even like you to begin with!” He rushes out, his chest starting to feel too tight. He couldn’t-

“Javy, Javy, breathe! Please breathe, it’s going to be fine.” Jake took his hand and squeezed, and the tension lessened in his chest, just a little bit. “If she doesn’t accept you for who you are and who you love, she’s not someone you want to be friends with in the first place, you know this.”

“Jake, she’s my best friend. She’s my family, I’d go to hell and back for her if she asked me to. I can’t just-”

“Javy, she didn’t seem mad about it, not even in the slightest. She said she wanted you to talk to her about it, not me. So talk to her, I promise it’s not- it won’t go the way you’re thinking it’s gonna go.”

“She wants me to talk to her because she can’t exactly cut me off via you.”

“Javy, no.”

“Well-”

“No. She’s not like that. She might not like me but she’s a better person than what you’re giving her credit for right now. She’s not your best friend for no reason.” He didn’t have a response to that one, brain reeling. Because she was his best friend for a reason, wasn’t she? He let out a shaky breath as Hangman eyed him. “It’s gonna be fine, I promise. Just talk to her. If she makes a deal out of it, I’ll deal with it, okay? You got nothing to worry about.” He nods, squeezing Jake’s hand. Jake nodded once and then grabbed the keys from his pocket, starting the car and pulling down the street. He had no intention of bringing this up to her. He wasn’t sure he could bear hearing the words leave his best friends mouth.

The sound of the rain pitter-pattering on the roof of the car filled the air as he and Jake sat there in silence. A tension-filled silence no less.

“Okay, okay, fine, I’ll go to the Hard Deck with you tonight.” He concedes, knowing that in the grand scheme of things, one night was not that big of a deal.

“And you’re going to talk to her.”

“No.”

“Javy.” He looks at Jake, who’s already giving him a piercing look, one only his boyfriend can muster, like he can see through all his walls, tearing them apart brick by brick. “She’s worried, you know? She wants to fix it.”

“There’s no friendship left to fix.” Hangman grimaces.

“Don’t throw her out of your life over this.”

“You said she would bring this up and she hasn’t. She- she has to be looking for an out Jake and I’m just... giving her what she wants.”

“Maybe she doesn’t know how to approach it?” Jake says it in such a way that indicates he doesn’t actually know that.

“She say that?” Jake hesitates.

“Well... not exactly.”

“Then what did she say?”

“I- I don’t actually know. Bradshaw was just telling me and Trace how worried he was the other night. She’s taking the radio silence pretty hard apparently.” Coyote groans, slipping down further into his seat.

“Rooster has to know.”

“I don’t think he does.”

“She tells him everything, the news that Coyote and Hangman are boning has to be at the top of the list. God, how many of our teammates know, do you think? Fuck, what if Mav knows? He’s gotta, she doesn’t keep much from her Dad.”

Hangman snorts. “Yeah, except for the fact that she almost died and her old squadron harassed her for two years and oh yeah, by the way, my best friend almost got re-assigned to Iraq, and oh hey, I don’t feel like I’m good enough to be your kid, and oh yeah, you dote on my boyfriend more than your own kid-”

“Okay, okay, I get the point.” He looks over at his boyfriend and takes his hand, intertwining his fingers. Hangman squeezes his hand.

“Look, this has gotta end sometime and it’s not worth ending the friendship over if you don’t know for sure that she feels the way you think she does.”

“I do know.”

“Has she ever once said, to you, ‘I hate gay people and if my best friend ever came out as bisexual, I would stop being friends with them’? Or anything remotely close to that?”

“...No.”

“Well, okay then. You’re talking to her.”

“Jake, you’ve heard her. She jokes about us all the time, she’s gotta-”

“What is your point here? It’s not exactly like we’ve been subtle the last year.”

“Yeah, because you can’t keep your hands to yourself Seresin.” Hangman smirks.

“You love it.” His cocky grin falters and he looks away. “Look, I don’t love this either. Of course it scares me that she might do something with what she knows, that she might- I don’t know, tell the team, get us fired, whatever. But she’s not my best friend and we’re not gonna know until you talk to her.” He sighs, shifting in his seat.

“I’ll think about it.” Jake sighs and lets go of his hand.

“Look, just- make a decision about what you’re doing sooner rather than later. Because the longer you ignore her, the more Pops and Chicken Shit get interested in what’s up and we’re gonna have the whole team breathing down our necks.”

“They say something to you?”

“Phoenix and Bob did. Under the pretense of the team’s best wingman getting it together, but apparently Bradshaw’s pretty worried about her. I’m serious, she’s taking it really hard.” Coyote sighed, biting his lip. His shifts to look out the window as Jake pulls his phone out.

“We going now or what?” Jake nods, putting his phone back in his pocket and starts the car. The drive is mostly silent as Coyote watches the rainy city pass by. It’s only when they pass the exit they take to get to the Hard Deck that Coyote knows something’s up. “Jake, you-”

“I know.” A slight panic settled in as he eyed his boyfriend.

“Where are we going?” Jake didn’t respond and Coyote’s stomach dropped as he recognized the roads surrounding his best friend’s house. “Jake.” His boyfriend doesn’t say anything as he pulls into the empty driveway, save for Rebel’s car. He turns the car off and turns to him but he doesn’t move. Hangman sighs, but he still doesn’t look up.

“Javy, baby, I love you, but I’m not above dragging you into the house kicking and screaming.” Javy sighs, knowing Jake’s being serious and he unbuckles his seatbelt as Jake moves out of the car. Jake comes around the side of the car, grabbing his hand as they walk up to the front door. Jake opens the front door, his grip moving to his wrist, pulling Javy across the threshold. “Rebel?”

“Kitchen.” She calls and Jake continues to drag him along. Jake shuffled to move behind him and set him down gently in a chair.

“Sit down.” He said as Coyote looked down at the the wooden table. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw how Hangman sighed and then shifted, looking around the kitchen nervously. “Mav here?”

You shook your head. “Penny’s.” He nodded slowly as Coyote refused to make eye contact with anything but the table. He couldn’t believe this was happening.

“Right well, let’s talk about this then.” He said, straightening up. Coyote could feel your eyes on him and it wasn’t a pleasant feeling.

“What are we talking about exactly?” You asked.

“Well, I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that Coyote’s been ignoring you.” You nodded.

“Yeah, wasn’t sure why.”

“Well, I know why. You never brought up what I told you that day, about us, and Javy freaked out.” You waved a hand.

“We didn’t need to have a discussion about it.”

“Well, why not?” Hangman presses.

“Because-”

“-Because she hates me for who am I and who I’m dating and the friendship is over.” He stated, his voice rising with every word and you startled. He knew how this ended, with his best friend gently telling him that they couldn’t be friends anymore, that dating Jake was one low she just couldn’t get past, that she-

“Because it doesn’t bother me and I was waiting for you to come to me because it’s not my sexuality and relationship and I wasn’t going to force you to have a conversation you didn’t want to have or weren’t ready to have.” He finally looked up at you, a lump forming in his throat. Oh. Well he wasn’t expecting you to say that. “Javy, you’re family, you really think that I’d-?” Your voice caught in your throat as you brushed away a few tears. He stared at you as you swallowed back your tears. “Hangman, why don’t you go on ahead to the Hard Deck. We’ll meet you over there.” A stone dropped in Coyote’s stomach as he looked at his boyfriend, hoping Jake could see how much he didn’t want to be left here alone. Because she wouldn’t say the truth, not really anyways, in front of him, and he wasn’t sure he could walk out of this house, knowing his boyfriend wasn’t there to support him after having this conversation, knowing it was a matter of minutes until he lost his best friend.

Hangman must see the message on his face, or something similar, because he hesitates. “I don’t know-”

“It’s not up for discussion.” You state and Hangman glances at Coyote once more. Jake, don’t you dare-

“Okay, okay. I’m going. Just-” You raise your eyebrows and he swallows. Coyote had half a mind to run now. “Yeah, okay I’m going. Okay, see you later.” He hesitates and then presses a quick kiss to Coyote’s cheek. They both glance at you, but you make no indication of having any response to the PDA just shown. He moves his gaze back to the table as you wait until you hear the front door shut and watch his car drive away from the kitchen window and before turning back. You sigh and take a seat across from him.

“Javy.” You state. “Look at me.” He swallows and raises his head to meet your look. “We need to talk about this because this is not worth ruining our friendship over.”

“Really, it’s fine-”

“No, it’s not. Javy, I was waiting for you to come to me about it. It’s not my sexuality or my relationship and I wanted you to have freedom over when it got discussed and to what extent. I didn’t know if you had a label or were just casually hooking up with him or what was going on and I wasn’t going to press it. If you want to discuss this, we can but if you want me to pretend like I know nothing at all I can do that too. I haven’t repeated what was said to anyone else and no one else will find out about it if you’re not ready for it. Because at the end of the day, this is your sexuality and your relationship and you get to make the call on how you’re defining it and who you’re discussing it with and I’m never going to force you to talk about it. It changes nothing, nothing at all. You’re still my best friend, you’re always going to be, no matter if you’re dating a man or a woman or anyone else. I don’t care, so long as you’re happy at the end of the day. You do know that right?” He sniffed, the dam breaking, because really, he hadn’t known that.

You stood up, moving to his chair. “I’m going to give you a hug now.” You whisper and he nods. You lean over to give him a hug as you kick a chair over with your foot. He reached up to touch your arm, as he tries to take deep breathes as everything starts to become overwhelming. You let him go and scoot it close as you pull your legs up into a criss-crossed position so your knees are touching his and take his hand. “I’m sorry if I didn’t make it clear I was a safe person to tell this to.” You whisper and he shakes his head.

“No, I know-” He swallows. “I knew you were going to be fine with it, rationally, but I just- we’ve never discussed this before and I didn’t- you were raised in a military family, your Dad and Admiral godfather were around during the height of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and you and I both know things haven’t really changed all that much, even if the Navy says otherwise and I just- I panicked.” He whispers, squeezing his eyes shut. He couldn’t really believe this was happening, that this was going in a way he hadn’t expected it to, and the last thing he wanted was for you to feel guilty.

“Disregarding the fact that Rooster and I’ve got theories about what good ol’ Mav and Ice were up to during Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell-” Coyote raised his eyebrows. They had theories about what? “-it wouldn’t have mattered. I’ve never bought into that stuff. Not once.” He nods slowly, blinking tears out of his eyes. “What do you want from me here? Do you want to talk about it? Because I have questions but you don’t have to answer them if you don’t want to and you don’t have to answer them right now if this is too much.” He shook his head.

“No, I want talk about it and I want to hear any questions you have.” He looks over to you and you nod. He did want to hear your questions, wanted to hear everything you had to say, good or bad, because everything needed to be on the table.

“Okay, then we’re sitting on the couch because I hate these chairs.” He laughs softly and follows you out to the living room. “I’m serious, we’ve had them since I was like 3 and Dad refuses to get new ones.” You say, sitting down on the couch. He sits down next to you and you look at him. “Okay, so. How long have you and Hangman been dating?” He shrugs.

“November-ish?” November 11th. Is it weird that he knew the date? Probably not, right?

You nodded. “Well, that explains Christmas.” He nods. He was surprised you hadn’t said anything on Christmas because he and Jake had- well, they were only slightly inseparable on Christmas.

“We’ve technically been hooking up since the g-loc incident.” Might as tell you everything, including the fact that while you were dealing with the fact that your godfather had just died, he’d hooked up with Jake for the first time. Good best friend Coyote. Your eyes widen.

“Dude, that was almost a year ago.” He shrugs.

“It was just a casual thing at first, but not really, and we’ve been official since November but-”

“It’s been going on a lot longer.” You finish, looking at him. He nods, confirming the statement. “Oh God, so all those times I teased you-” You groaned, putting your head into your hands. “Sorry about being an ass. It was less, ‘you’re dating a guy’ and more ‘it’s Hangman’.” He shook his head.

“Never thought it was about that. I know how you feel about Jake. And you didn’t know and it wasn’t like you were wrong so...” Because she wasn’t. The cuddling after movie night, the subtle touches when they thought no one was looking, standing closer to each other during nights out, nothing about that had exactly helped their defense that nothing was happening.

“I deserve an award for Worst Friend of the Year for that.” He snorts.

“(Y/N), no. It’s fine. Don’t beat yourself up for it. Call us even for the time I told you to shut the fuck up on your first day.” Okay, yeah, maybe he still felt slightly bad about that.

“That’s not even in the realm of being the same thing.” Eh, debatable.

“Whatever. Next question.” Because the two of you would be here forever if you focused in on every moment you’d teased them. You sighed, rubbing your forehead.

“Please don’t regale me with stories of your sexescapdes but are you at least being safe?” You ask and Coyote glances at you curiously. “My Dad served during Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, but also during the AIDS epidemic and he knew guys who- who got sick and I just- you’re being safe right?” He nods. He didn’t even think about that. Of course they were being safe but-

“Yeah, we’re being safe I promise.” You let out a sigh of relief and you nod.

“Good, good, I just worry.” You sigh. “Do you have a label for yourself?” He nods.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m bisexual.” He whispers, realizing it’s the only time he’s said the words out loud to anyone that wasn’t his own boyfriend.

“Okay. Who else knows?”

“Just you and Hangman. I’m not ready to tell anyone else.” He takes a deep breath. Everything on the table Coyote. “Well- okay, I have something I've gotta own up to.”

You raised your eyebrows. “Okay, I’m all ears.” He sighed and rubbed the back of his head nervously. This is the shit that could really get him in trouble.

“I hooked up with Ghost on more than one occasion.” Your eyes widen. “Venom caught us once and held it over my head until the day he left. He always threatened to go to Thompson and- I didn’t ever want to tell you while you were there because I was afraid you’d do the same, in some sort of fucked up way to get into Thompson’s good graces.” She wouldn’t do that, not to him, not to anyone, but he’d been so scared. “Ghost and I were kind of dating and the whole thing—lying to you, hiding, all of it—put a huge strain on us. We ended things a few weeks before I got the Iraq orders.” He still felt bad about how things ended between him and Ghost, but then again, it hadn’t been the most healthy relationship. Or situationship. They hadn’t labeled things, which, looking back, might’ve been a mistake from the get-go.

“That... explains so much.” You whisper.

“I- I wanted to tell you this time around because Jake and I have been years in the making and I didn’t want to fuck it up again, but I just- I just didn’t know how. I didn’t want to fuck up our friendship because you’re my best friend but I knew if I didn’t tell you, made Jake hide this from you, that I’d lose him and I just- I don’t know, I thought that maybe if I distanced myself from you, that it would suck for a while but you would accept it and it would be better this way, somehow? I thought that maybe if I lost you on my terms it would be better than losing you after hearing that you didn’t accept me for who I am.” He says, taking a shaky breath.

“Javy, no. You never would’ve lost me, not over this, not over anything else. And I never would’ve told you that. That’s not who I am, that’s never what I’ve believed, and it never will be.” He nodded, playing with the string of Jake’s sweatshirt.

“I’m sorry for not telling you sooner.”

You shook your head. “Please don’t be, it’s okay.”

“Is it?” He seriously doubted it. He wasn’t sure you would, or could, fully forgive him for he way he’d been acting.

“Javy, yes, I promise.” He sighs and you look at him. “Does he make you happy? Treat you well?” He nods. Because Jake did. Jake really cared about him. He might be an ass but he did care for Coyote.

“He does. He really does.”

“Good. I’ll accept nothing less for my best friend.” He laughs silently.

“Same goes for you. You know if Rooster ever hurts you, I’m ready to fight in your honor.” You snort, rolling your eyes.

“Yeah, I know.” You sigh, picking at a loose thread on the couch. “Look, if you did want to talk about it, tell anyone else, I know for a fact Dad and Rooster are both safe people to tell. Phoenix and Bob too.” He nods slowly. He- he did want to start telling other people, eventually, and he trusted your judgement.

“I’ll think about it.” You sigh, stretching.

“So are we all good?” He nods.

“Thank you for always being the sensible one in the friendship.” You shake your head.

“I don’t know about that one.” He cracks a smile.

“Well, the sensible one lately. Seriously though, thank you for being so cool with all of this. I needed it.” You roll your eyes, pulling him into a hug.

“Javy, shut the fuck up, I don’t give a shit if you’re into men.” He laughs into your embrace, wrapping his arms around you.

“You should’ve started with that. Would’ve saved us a lot of trouble.”

“You’re the one who was ignoring me!” You defend, flicking his forehead as he pulls away.

“Yeah, I’m sorry about that.” You shrug.

“You’re my best friend and nothing will change that.”

The car is filled with 70′s rock music as the two of you drive. He sighs and your eyes glance at him from the road. “I really am sorry.” He whispers.

“Coyote, really, it’s fine.”

“I-”

“Javy, do you remember the conversation we all had a few months ago? About soulmates?” He racks his brain, recalling the blurry memory.

“Vaguely, I was kind of drunk.” A smile appears on your face as you keep your eyes on the road.

“Do you remember how I talked about platonic soulmates?” He recalls what you’d said, how a warm feeling settled in his chest after hearing you declare that the two of you were platonic soulmates. You’d all been drinking, he wasn’t sure if you even entirely knew what you were talking about, but he appreciated the sentiment nonetheless, knowing how big of a secret he was sitting on. It had also scared him, because this was how you felt about him, and he was quickly earning the title as World’s Shittiest Best Friend the longer he hid his relationship with Hangman from you.

“Yeah, I remember.”

“I meant what I said that night. That you’re my platonic soulmate.” Eyes not moving off the road, you take your right hand and extend it and he takes it with his left. You squeeze his hand and he squeezes it back. “I have never had a friendship like ours and I never will again. People come and go but our friendship is forever and there is no way you’re getting rid of me.”

“Even if I wanted to?” He jokes, trying to ignore the weird feeling settling in his chest. You squeeze his hand again and shoot him a glare. “Kidding.”

“We’re gonna be friends for the rest of our lives and there’s never going to be anything you could do to change that.”

“Even if I broke into your house, stole your family’s most treasured possessions-”

“Javy.” You pause as the two of you approach a red light. “You’re deflecting.” He shifts uncomfortably, because you’re right. “There is nothing in this world that you could do that would make me think less of you.” He swallows. You raise your intertwined hands as the two of you near the Hard Deck, the outline of the building in the rainy, dark distance. “This, this is forever.”

“I know.”

“Then stop apologizing.” You let his hand go as you pull into a parking spot.

“I just feel bad. I shouldn’t be keeping secrets from you.”

“Like I don’t keep them from you?” You ask, raising an eyebrow. You’ve parked and turn off the car but make no move to get out. He shrugs.

“Not exactly. I mean, I get not wanting to talk about like, your sex life with Bradshaw-”

“Coyote, I blatantly lied about how I knew Rooster, hid who my dad was from you, didn’t tell you my godfather was the Commander of the Pacific Fleet for fuck’s sake, I didn’t even tell you which branch of the military my Dad worked for. Pot, kettle, black? I’d be a hypocrite if I got mad.”

“Yeah, but those secrets were secrets I understood why you hid.”

“And you think I don’t understand why you hid that you were dating Hangman?” He was taken aback by that because he didn’t really expect you to understand. “I get it. It’s Bagman. He’s a guy. He’s white and you were raised in the South, where things like this are subject to scrutiny and criticism. I get that not everyone was raised in liberal ass California. Although we haven't always been this progressive but that’s neither here nor there.”

“Are you about to lecture me about California state history again?” You roll your eyes and even in the dark of the car, Coyote can read the look you’re giving him.

“Again. Deflecting. Missing my point.” He sighs.

“Yeah, I know.”

“Look, I may not ever fully get your experiences, because I haven’t lived them myself, but you’ve told me enough for me to understand why you hid it. It’s okay.” He sucks a deep breath in.

“You mean it? We’re friends for life?” You nod and he sighs, feeling like he’s coming up for air the first time in months.

“There’s a reason your name is Coyote my best friend 5eva in my phone.” Against his better judgement, some of his laughter escapes him.

“Oh, I’m so telling the team that.”

You roll your eyes again, shaking your head. “Shut up, let’s go inside.” He follows you out of the car but quickly pulls you into one more hug.

“Iloveyouandyou’remybestfriendandIappreciateyouandIdon’tsayitenough.” He rushes out, not daring to stop. You mumble something from where your chest is smushed into his sweatshirt. “Didn’t catch that.”

“I said, I love you too, but I’m going inside because it’s chilly.” He laughs as you push the door of the Hard Deck open, the bell ringing. He takes in the team sat at the pool table and Jake sitting at the counter, talking to Maverick. He watches as Rooster eyes you as you wave to Hangman and then head toward your boyfriend. He moves towards Jake as his gaze switches back to him, a raised eyebrow on his face.

“Everything go good?” He nods as Jake looks back to Rebel and Rooster, both of whom are looking at them. Jake shoots Rebel questioning look with a thumbs up and she returns it, a smile on her face.

“Went fine. We can talk about it more later.” Maverick pats Coyote on the shoulder in greeting as he moved down further at the bar to talk to Amelia. Jake continues to look at him and Coyote sighs, sitting down in what had been Maverick’s seat. “I’ve got a question.”

“Shoot.” Jake says, taking a sip of his beer.

“How would you feel about telling the team?”

#javy coyote machado #javy coyote machado fic #javy coyote machado imagines #javy coyote machado fics #javy coyote machado imagine #same mistakes #top gun maverick #top gun maverick fics

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finelytaylored · 1 year

Text

Never felt like this before, take my name and make it yours.

Chapter 2: I don't wanna look at anything else now that I saw you

Fic Summary:

“Glad I don’t have to think of ways to keep your dad from having me dishonorably discharged and putting me six feet under for not wanting to date his daughter.”

Claire smiled and shook her head fondly. “He means well, and I can’t say he has bad taste in men” she said as her eyes traveled up and down Bradley’s body playfully. “But he really isn't equipped with the skills to read people as well as he should be able to.”

“Oh? What is it that he’s not seeing that you can?” Bradley asked, genuinely curious and engaged in the conversation now that he wasn’t worried about offending Claire with his disinterest in pursuing her romantically.

“Well, for starters, if he was as observant as he likes to think he is, he wouldn’t have wasted his time trying to set you up with me. He would have thought about personally introducing you to Daniel... and then If he was really paying attention he would have realized he should be trying to set you up with Jake right now.” Claire replied far too casually for someone that just turned his entire world upside-down. “It’s clear he respects you and would welcome you into the family, he’s just going about it the completely wrong way. Obviously.”

Jake knew his dad was simultaneously his biggest supporter and his harshest critic, when it came to his Naval career.

Admiral Jacob Seresin Sr. was a highly decorated, incredibly well-respected man but Jake had never needed to use his father’s name or rank to get to where he was. The fact that he literally shared a name with the man made it extremely difficult to carve out a space for himself outside of his father’s shadow back in the early days when he had just graduated and was trying to find his footing.

Most of his fellow aviators assumed Jake hated his callsign. He couldn’t necessarily blame anyone for thinking Hangman wasn’t a name he’d want following him around for the rest of his career. But to him, being given a callsign was granting him his freedom. Nobody needed to know he was Jacob Seresin Jr. There was never a reason to introduce himself as Jake.

He fully embraced Hangman as not only a name, but as an identity. It was something he could claim fully as his own, without any familial strings attached.

Jake hadn’t realized how much it had been holding him back. He always felt like he had something to prove, someone to live up to, a legacy to uphold.

Hangman wasn’t beholden to any of those things that Jake Seresin was. He could do – would do – whatever it took to be the best. Not because it was expected of him, but because he knew he was capable of it.

(keep reading below or on AO3)

He knew his dad didn’t want anyone to think he had interfered in his son’s career in any way. He didn’t believe in that sort of thing and Jake was relieved that it was something they agreed on without ever really having to talk about. Both Seresin men had a mostly unspoken agreement to keep their person lives and work lives separate, which had never been an issue, until Jake had been called back to Top Gun for what they all referred to as ‘The Mission’, once they had all miraculously come back alive and the dust had started to settle.

Jake had heard his father talk about Admiral Kazansky and Captain Mitchell throughout the years, never bothering to hide his frustration about Admiral Kazansky’s promotion to Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. His father seemed to admire the way Kazansky conducted himself in his performance as a pilot as well as a leader of men and women, with one big exception. He also never bothered to hide his irritation with Captain Mitchell and how he conducted himself, both in the air and on the ground. The problem was, Admiral Kazansky was constantly willing to put his own reputation on the line and step in whenever Captain Mitchell needed saving from himself. He was actively, regularly interfering for personal reasons and Jake knew that was the real reason he’d never offered the other men anything more than the bare minimum professional courtesy that was expected of him.

The moment Jake realized that his instructor during his second stint at Top Gun was going to be none other than the Captain Mitchell his father had not-so-secretly been going against everything he believed in and had called in favors to keep him away from the guy up until that point, he knew in his bones this assignment was a big deal. It was either something that was so classified even Admiral Seresin couldn’t get his hands on it and had been unable to figure out who he needed to contact to get Jake out of it, or his father knew enough to understand that he had to put his personal feelings aside – like he normally did when it came to Jake’s career – and let it happen because it required the best of the best, like Top Gun always did, and they both knew Jake absolutely fit into that category.

As soon as Jake saw Bradley Bradshaw walk into the Hard Deck that first day, he knew exactly why his father hadn’t interfered. For some reason, the Admiral had taken a liking to Rooster almost immediately. It annoyed Jake for a lot of reasons. He would never admit it to anyone – he had only just started to admit it to himself, but seeing his father so openly admire and respect Rooster’s flying style and abilities, and just generally appreciate the career he was carving out for himself was something Jake envied. He knew his father was proud of him, but the way the Admiral kept tabs on where the other man was being deployed and what service medals he was collecting along the way made Jake feel like he was lacking.

Whenever Jake brought up the fact that Bradshaw was absolutely wasting his potential, the Admiral waved him off. He had never asked Rooster how he had gotten his callsign, but it seemed fitting for someone who refused to take risks; someone who was happy to sit on their perch and wait for just the right moment or the right conditions. He either didn’t know how to act on instinct or refused to do so. Jake wasn’t sure which was worse. He was unflinchingly calm and precise in the air, but he’d never take you by surprise. Every maneuver was so practiced and clean. Predictable. He couldn’t help but feel like that kind of behavior, if left unchallenged, would get Rooster killed one day if he was ever sent on a mission with any real stakes involved, and it felt like no one other than Jake cared enough to think about it, let alone actually do anything to help correct it.

So, Jake spent time figuring out what buttons to push, the best ways to get a reaction out of him, whenever they were on assignment together. He knew that if he could get Bradshaw out of his own head, he’d be a real pain in the ass in the air. There had always been something simmering just beneath the surface with Rooster, but he had always managed to keep it locked down. Jake never understood why he refused to let any of it go even when they were in the air. They weren’t friends and had never made the effort to try and be more than just civil enough to not get reamed out by their superiors, so Jake had never asked about it and Bradley had never offered any personal information about himself to anyone but Phoenix.

That had started to shift after everything that had happened leading up to, during and immediately following what they all now referred to as “The Mission”. They had all been given some much needed leave, the first few days of which were spent finishing up mandatory medical exams, seemingly endless debriefs and typically wrapped up with a few hours spent at the Hard Deck. Any tension that had been present during training had dissipated without anyone actively trying. There was a bond between everyone in the group that had formed out of necessity and had bled into all their social interactions, which shouldn’t have been surprising. What was surprising was how readily they all adjusted with no real time to adjust to the new dynamic. They had all somehow survived what had been deemed a suicide mission from day one, and no matter what they all went on to do individually in their careers, no one would ever understand what they had experienced in the way the rest of the Dagger squad always would.

Jake had been expecting the lecture he received from Cyclone but wasn’t as confident that he would walk out of that office with the spotless service record he had walked in with. Somehow, he had avoided any disciplinary action and his service record remained unblemished. He didn’t know how many miracles he was entitled to in this lifetime, but he was rapidly burning through all of them in the span of one week.

That first night at the Hard Deck, Bradshaw had walked up to Jake and handed him a bottle of his favorite beer without comment or fanfare. Jake had accepted without any of his usual sarcastic or instigative quips and without either of them saying a word, something between them had shifted. He knew the moment he disobeyed direct orders to go after Maverick and Rooster, not even hesitating when he realized he’d be adding a second confirmed kill to his ledger in the process, that inevitably there would be a change between the three of them. He didn’t have time in the moment to worry about what that would end up manifesting as in reality.

His father had clearly called in a few favors to have the medal ceremony in Texas. It was one of the only times Jake had seen his father so shamelessly flaunt the strings he had pulled, and Jake couldn’t find it in himself to be genuinely annoyed. He understood that his father had wanted to whole family to be together for the occasion and he was certain his mother hadn’t pushed back on the idea when it meant they could invite the squadron and their families to the Seresin home afterwards for a barbecue. She had always loved having guests in their home, and she had always had a gift for making anyone and everyone feel welcome.

The moment Jake saw their father personally introduce Bradley to his sister Claire, he was certain that all his luck, or miracles, or whatever it had been that had gotten him through this stint at Top Gun, had officially run out.

Bradshaw certainly wasn’t the worst person Claire could end up with, not by a long shot. Even though the slightly older pilot was one of the most frustrating aviators he’d ever met, he had never given Jake any reason to believe he wasn’t a good man. At the very least, he knew that Nat was a good judge of character, and she would have kicked him to the curb a long time ago if he wasn’t.

Jake didn’t pay them much attention, but when he would occasionally glance around the room, he spotted them a few different times sitting angled towards each other, speaking animatedly and in their own little world.

The following day, Bradshaw, Nat, Bob, Fitch and Garcia all showed up to the house together around 10:00am for the brunch that his mother insisted they all stop by for before catching flights to the various parts of the country they called home. Javy, as usual, had stayed over the previous night. It had been too long since they’d been able to spend time together, just the two of them. They had grabbed drinks together here and there during training, but they hadn’t been able to fully relax and appreciate each other’s company. Jake hadn’t realized just how much he had needed it until they were laying shoulder to shoulder, staring up at the ceiling of his childhood bedroom like they had done so many times throughout the decade they’d known each other.

Their voices were barely above a whisper as they gradually helped each other deconstruct the walls they’d built for protection and self-preservation in case they ended up surviving The Mission. There was no real reason to speak in hushed tones. They had plenty of privacy inside those four walls Jake had known all his life; but the conversation felt so fragile, even with the immense amount of trust that had always been part of their friendship. It almost felt like if either of them spoke too loudly, that moment of safety and comfort and peace they were finally able to bask in would disappear.

Jake and Javy both needed to live in that bubble they had managed to create for themselves for as long as possible and weren’t going to do anything that they felt like could disrupt it.

At least, that’s what Jake had assumed until Javy brought up the one topic of conversation he’d been hoping to avoid.

“So, is it just me or was Bradshaw gettin’ pretty cozy with Claire tonight? Looked like they really hit it off”

Jake groaned and rubbed his hands over his face. “Definitely isn’t just you, man. Dad went out of his way to introduce them, and I don’t think I saw either of them talking to anyone else practically the whole night after that.”

Javy whistled. “A personal introduction, huh? I knew your dad has always had a soft spot for him but damn.”

“I feel like I should’ve seen this coming somehow.” Jake replied. “No one is ever good enough for his only daughter but the respect he’s got for Rooster is unrivaled. If Iceman and Mav weren’t around, he probably would’ve tried to adopt him already. This is his next best option I guess.”

Javy paused to gather his thoughts before he responded. “I know you two haven’t always gotten along…”

Jake shot him a glance. “If that ain’t’ an understatement, I don’t know what is.”

“… but…” Javy continued as if he hadn’t been interrupted. “… does it actually bother you? The thought of Bradshaw dating her?”

The thought had never crossed Jake’s mind until that night. Somehow, he had never made the connection that the admiration his dad had always had for Bradley could translate to a situation like that. He felt like an idiot because now that it was happening, it just seemed obvious and inevitable. “I don’t think it does. The is the first time I’ve ever really thought about it, y’know?”

Javy nodded in understanding. “Yeah, I get it.”

A comfortable silence settled over them for a few minutes before Javy spoke again. “I know we aren’t actually related, but you’re all basically my family at this point and if Bradshaw does anything to hurt her, I’ll help you guys make sure no one ever finds the body.”

Jake snorted out a laugh. “I don’t think my dad would need any help with that, but I’m sure he’d appreciate the offer anyway.”

Now that he was letting himself think about it, Jake couldn’t recall any instances of Bradshaw mentioning any girlfriends throughout the years they had known each other. He’d never seen the other man arrive with or leave with anyone or put himself out there in any meaningful way. He had seen the way he acted around his fellow aviators and had really gotten to observe the way he was with the rest of the Dagger squad.

They were all playfully flirty and casually physically affectionate with each other to some degree. There was a lot of teasing and banter traded back and forth. Coyote was usually only that way with Jake and occasionally Nat. Payback and Bob were the most reserved of the group but still took part, especially as they all got to know each other a bit better and learned to loosen up. Fanboy, himself, Rooster and Nat were the most comfortable with it all generally, but there had always been something that kept him and Rooster from fully letting that wall down.

The banter between the two of them was much sharper around the edges. It was less playful and always seemed to have more intent behind it, like they were trying to provoke and get a rise out of each other whether it was in the air or on the ground. It seemed as though they were incapable of letting the rivalry they’d fallen into go and only knew how to push and push and push at each other, even when it meant letting it get personal; especially then.

After The Mission, Jake hadn’t said a word about Bradshaw’s flying, even in jest. He couldn’t bring himself to critique anything when at the end of the day he was just so relieved Bradshaw had done what he needed to do to complete The Mission and come home. He hadn’t even called the other man an idiot for going back for Mav, at least not to his face. Jake was self-aware enough to know that he’d be arguable the world’s biggest hypocrite if he did, after he himself had said ‘fuck it’ and also went against orders to do what he felt needed to be done.

So, Jake started putting in the effort to talk to Bradley the same way he did to everyone else. He toned down the smirks and the snark and allowed himself to soften along the edges. It didn’t take long for the two of them to slip into something almost resembling a friendship, and it was far easier than it had any right to be with all the history that was shared between them.

He wasn’t prepared for the intrusive thoughts that started gradually creeping in without his permission regarding the parameters of their newly formed friendship and if they could be pushed any further. Jake couldn’t tell you what it was that had sparked it; what led to him wondering what more between the two of them would look like. By the time he realized that was a very slippery slope that he should not be exploring even in theory, there wasn’t anything he could do to put a stop to it. Jake would have to be blind and completely, incompetently unobservant to not understand that Bradshaw was an attractive man. They all had to stay fit in order to pass their physicals and be cleared to fly, and Bradley was no exception. The handful of afternoons they all spent playing dogfight football or volleyball had more than shown most of them went the extra mile and pushed themselves beyond just being fit enough to fly. Even the obnoxiously out of date moustache he refused to shave off didn’t dissuade people of all gender identities from hitting on him. Somehow, Bradshaw was just charming enough that he made it work for him.

It had been a few years at least since Jake had allowed himself to indulge in regular, casual hookups. He’d never had a problem with it, and still didn’t. It was easier than attempting to make any kind of serious relationship work when he was being shipped all over the country and sometimes even around the world at a moment’s notice for months and months at a time. He didn’t see the point in making the situation more complicated than it needed to be. Jake didn’t have a hard time finding partners who were willing to help him scratch the itch when he couldn’t put it off for any longer. He had a nice body, and he wasn’t ashamed to say he knew how to use it.

Lately, the thought of resorting to casual sex and one night stands just didn’t hold the same appeal that it used to. He found himself longing for something to come home to, outside of his family and friends. Someone that he could put down roots with and build a real home with. It was thanks to Iceman and Maverick that he realized that was something he was not only allowed to want, but that it was possible one day he could actually have it. They had so openly welcomed all the Daggers, both as members of Mav’s team and as Bradley’s friends, into their personal lives and Jake had been completely overwhelmed by the domesticity of it all. Until the moment he’d seen Pete and Tom interact as a married couple with his own eyes, he never could’ve imagined seeing the men he knew as Captain Mitchell and Admiral Kazansky settling down like that while maintaining the impressive careers, they still both had. It cracked open a longing in Jake that was so strong, he had to fight to keep himself from having an outwardly emotional reaction right then and there.

Which is something he’d never really discussed with anyone, not even Javy. He didn’t know for sure, but with Bradley having grown up with Ice and Maverick as pseudo father figures to look up to, he assumed he’d eventually want to settle down as well. And Jake knew Claire definitely wanted that at some point. All of the Seresin kids wanted big families of their own, and Claire was by far the most openly enthusiastic about it. There was no reason he shouldn’t support his father trying to set the two of them up unless Bradshaw shockingly didn’t have an interest in being a family man, but the thought of it left a bitter taste in his mouth that he didn’t want to think about.

The Seresin house was blissfully quiet when Jake stirred awake the next morning. Javy was still in a deep sleep beside him, and Jake smiled at the sight of seeing his best friend in such a state of peace. Jake took extra care to slide out of the bed and quietly as possible, without jostling the bed.

He slowly made his way down the hall, not in any sort of hurry for the first time in a long time. Jake couldn’t recall the last time he’d felt that kind of serenity. When he reached the foot of the stairs and padded the few feet required to reach the kitchen, he noticed Claire sitting on one of the barstools, her arms resting on the counter and her hands resting loosely around the large, steaming coffee mug that had always been a staple of her morning routine.

“You turn into a morning person while I’ve been away?” Jake asked as he placed a hand on her shoulder and leaned down to kiss the top of her head.

Claire scrunched her nose as if the mere thought of being a morning person disgusted her. “Not in this lifetime.”

Jake huffed out a laugh as he pulled a mug out of the cabinet and poured some of the still hot coffee from the pot she had made inside. She scrunched her nose again as he lifted the mug to his lips and took a sip.

“Gross.”

He raised an eyebrow, silently prompting her to elaborate.

“No sugar, no milk? Nothing?” Claire said. “There are things you do that make me question if we’re actually related. Taking your coffee black, straight up, is one of them.”

Jake just rolled his eyes. “The point of drinking coffee is to consume caffeine. It’s a quick and efficient way to give me that extra kick I need to get my day going. No point in making it more complicated than it needs to be.”

Claire scoffed. “God forbid you take a few extra seconds to make your coffee taste slightly better than jet fuel. Would it kill you to be less of an asshole to your tastebuds?”

“My tastebuds are perfectly intact, Clairebear. No need to worry your pretty little head.” Jake teased. “What’s got you up so early? You sleepin’ okay?”

Claire nodded. “Yeah, I’ve been sleeping alright, mostly. I think I’ve just got more adrenaline running through my body than I’m used to.” She explained. “It’s been exciting knowing you’re going to be home for a while, and having all your friends here in one place, after …. Well. You know.”

Jake swallowed thickly, his tongue feeling like it was suddenly stuck to the roof of his mouth. “Makes sense.” He conceded. “I don’t think I’ve really processed it all yet. I’m still on that adrenaline high that’s been there since we landed on the carrier. I’m just waiting for the inevitable crash that’s coming and I’m glad I’m gonna be here when it happens.”

“Me too.” Claire agreed. “You’ve always been a giant pain in my ass, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t missed having you around to annoy the hell out of me. Feels like I never get to see you for more than a few days a year now.”

“I wish there was some way around it, but with the career I want… with everything I’ve been working towards, it’s just…” Jake paused, not sure how to get her to understand.

“Jake, it’s okay.” Claire said softly, waiting until he looked at her to continue. “I know – we all know – that you love us and that you’d come home more often if it was up to you. I just want to make sure you know that we want that too. We’re really, stupidly happy that you’re here.”

Jake cleared his throat and blinked rapidly as he attempted to control his emotions. “Thanks. I hope you know that you can always talk to me. I want to know what’s going on with you, even though I’m not around enough to see most of it.”

“You can always talk to me too, y’know. I won’t even complain that much when you have to skirt your way around all of the classified bullshit.” Claire replied with a grin.

“I’ll believe that when I see it.” Jake said, shooting her a grin of his own.

“Asshole.” She muttered before taking another sip of coffee.

“So… looked like you and Bradshaw really hit it off last night.” Jake offered. He let the implied ‘you want to talk about it?’ hang between them, knowing he didn’t need to voice it for her to know what he meant.

Claire smiled as she responded. “He’s fun to talk to. Smart, witty, has a good sense of humor. Seems like a good guy. He’s put up with you terrorizing him for like ten years now and has refrained from putting you in the ground so he can’t be all bad.”

“Funny.” Jake replied sarcastically. “Didn’t think you’d ever go for anyone that had the Admiral Seresin stamp of approval.”

Claire shrugged. “Dad means well, and I’ll give him credit this time. He could’ve chosen to introduce me to someone far worse than Bradley. I don’t think it’s going to go anywhere though.”

“Oh?” Jake asked. “Why is that? I’m almost impressed that he managed to friendzone himself in one night. That’s gotta be a record for him, and for you.”

She paused, looking down at the empty mug in her hands before she replied. “It’s not really something I can explain. There just isn’t that spark there, y’know? I want him to be a friend, someone I put in the effort to keep in touch with. But I just can’t see myself wanting anything more.”

“Does he know that?” Jake asked as he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned his weight against the kitchen counter behind him.

“He does. I think we were both pretty relieved to get that out in the open and just enjoy getting to know each other without any expectations or pressure. Besides, it’s not really my place to say anything, but he’s got his eyes on someone else.” Claire revealed, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

Jake’s mouth dropped open slightly. “He told you that? I’ve known the guy for nearly ten years and you know more about his love life than any of us outside of Nat, probably.”

“Like I said, we were just talking, trying to actually get to know each other.” Claire replied. “Have you ever done that? Sat down with him and tried to have a real conversation?”

Jake took a second to act like he was thinking about it, but he immediately knew the answer was no. He’d never felt like there was any reason to get to know Bradshaw outside of anything that mattered in the air. Jake needed to know how he flew in terms of style and technique, he needed to know what his instincts were like and what kind of decisions he was likely to make based on habit and who he had trained under. He needed to know what the slightly older man’s temperament was like; how he handled emotions and his skill level when it came to compartmentalize. Pretty much anything beyond that never felt important or useful, so Jake had never seen the point.

“Can’t say that I have.” Jake admitted when it felt like an appropriate amount of time had passed.

Claire hummed in acknowledgement. “I know I can’t tell you what to do. I learned that a long, long time ago now. But I think you should try. Just… hear me out, okay?”

Jake opened his mouth to respond and then thought better of it, nodding his head and gesturing for her to continue.

“There’s a lot I don’t know about whatever history you two have, but I do know that you haven’t complained about him once since that mission. I’ve barely heard you talk about him at all, actually. And since he’s been here, you almost seem... afraid to talk to him. I’m not trying to pry personal or classified information out of you, but it feels like something has changed there and it doesn’t seem like you guys have tried to start working through it.” Claire said.

Jake ran a hand through his hair and then scrubbed it over his face as he gathered his thoughts. “You’re not wrong. We haven’t really talked at all since The Mission. Not even to give each other shit about something stupid.”

“I figured.” Claire replied. “Are you planning on doing something about that or…”

With a sigh, Jake pushed off where he had been leaning against the counter. “I know that I should, I just… wouldn’t even know where to start.” He admitted.

“I don’t think it matters how you start, or where.” Claire replied. “It just matters that you do start. The rest can always be figured out.”

Jake glanced down at his feet and nodded but didn’t respond.

“Do you trust me?” Claire asked.

He looked up and locked eyes with her before she had finished the question. “You know that I do, but I’m a bit suspicious of the timing of that question.”

Claire smiled. “I’d be a bit worried if you weren’t. I know what you’re probably thinking, but I didn’t do anything crazy. I may have given Bradley a bit of a much-needed push last night and if he takes my advice, all I’m asking is that you and the rest of the squad don’t give him any reason to regret trusting you enough to do that.”

“You’re killing me here.” Jake groaned. “You keep dropping these hints about things you apparently know now and can’t actually tell me any of it.”

“It’s not my place to tell! Not my fault he already likes me better than he likes the rest of you.” She teased, sticking her tongue out. “In all seriousness, if he does take that step and talk to y’all, it’ll make your life easier. Because he’ll already have started it and you won’t have to worry about figuring out how anymore. You’ll just have to be brave enough to continue it.”

When the remaining members of the Dagger squad rolled up a few hours later, Mama Seresin wasted no time in giving them all hugs as they walked into the kitchen, Claire greeting Nat and Bradshaw with hugs, and offering bright smiles to the rest of the group. They all made themselves at home in the living room, finding various couches and chairs to squeeze into, quickly taking up any and all available space. All of them except for Bradshaw, who almost immediately turned and made his way to the kitchen. Jake couldn’t help but smile at the thought of Bradshaw so readily offering his services in the kitchen. If his mother hadn’t been completely charmed by the man already, that gesture certainly would have done it. Jake had no idea how helpful Bradshaw would be; didn’t know the man well enough to have any knowledge of his cooking abilities or lack thereof, but his mom would find something he could help with either way. That he was sure of.

Only about fifteen minutes had passed when Claire walked out of the kitchen and announced that food was ready. Everyone quickly stood and started helping carry freshly finished, delicious smelling dishes over to the table.

By the time everyone had found a seat, Jake somehow ended up sitting next to Bradshaw. He hadn’t noticed it until he glanced around the table to appreciate the fact they were all there. They had all made it home and were about to take on the challenge of trying to finish the frankly ridiculous amount of food that had been prepared for them.

“So, what do y’all have planned for your month of leave? Must feel like more time than you know what to do with.” Anne asked, glancing around the table as she spoke.

“I’m flying to Philly tomorrow morning to spend a few weeks with my family. The rest I’m sure I’ll figure out.” Nat replied, smiling softly. “I’m looking forward to not having any plans for the first time in a long time.”

“Amen to that.” Javy replied, reaching out for a fist-bump which Nat returned without hesitation. “I’ll be taking full advantage of this world-famous Seresin hospitality for a few more days. If I’m not home by the weekend my mom will fly out here and drag me to Baton Rouge herself.”

“Javy, you know we love you but if you keep your momma waiting that long, I’ll drag you to the airport myself.” Anne replied, shaking her head.

“What about you Bradshaw? I suspect Maverick and Ice don’t have a month of leave of their own.” The Admiral asked.

Bradley cleared his throat before responding. “Well sir, Maverick is supposed to have a month of leave, since he did the fly The Mission. He’s still technically recovering, probably should still be in the hospital, but it’ll be a miracle if we can keep him at home for more than a week, a week and a half tops.” Bradley replied. “Ice won’t have any time off as far as I know, but we’ll make it work. We always have.”

“So, you’re planning on spending your leave in California, then?” The Admiral asked.

“That’s correct, sir. They’re the only family I’ve got so it wouldn’t make much sense for me to go anywhere else.” Bradley was thrown off by the question but tried not to let it show on his face.

“Don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten what Mama told you, Bradley.” Claire cut in.

“I’ll say it again if I have to darlin’, and I’m sure Claire will have no problem remindin’ you too. You all are honorary members of this family.” Anne said. “Now I’m not expecting to see everyone again during this month of leave, but I do expect to see each of you back here again soon.”

“Except for you, Bradley. You have to come back before your month of leave is up or I’ll never forgive you.” Claire added, a shit-eating grin on her face.

“Wait a second, how am I the last to know that we’re apparently adopting Bradshaw into the family? When did this even happen?” Jake asked. He knew he looked surprised. Claire hadn’t mentioned anything about it that morning, which now felt intentional so she could relish in managing to catch him completely off guard.

“You upset you weren’t consulted first? Pretty sure you would’ve been outnumbered anyway.” Claire replied, sticking her tongue out.

“You’re such a child. Aren’t you supposed to be older than me?” he retorted with a fond smile on his face. He was slightly annoyed at being left out of whatever she was scheming but couldn’t actually be mad at her for it.

“Anyway, let us know what dates work for you and how long you want to stay and there’ll be a room set up for you.’ Claire said, looking away from Jake and over at Bradley.

“Yes ma’am.” Bradley replied, mock-saluting Claire as he spoke. They both laughed and smiled at each other.

By the time everyone at the table had their fill and thanked Anne for all the effort they knew she had put into it, they were basically shoved out the door and onto the back patio by her and Claire, so they had space to clear the table and clean up. Daniel politely said his goodbyes and headed into town to meet up with friends for a few hours. The Admiral unsurprisingly disappeared into his office which left the group of friends with some alone time together on the lounges outside.

Bob, Rueben and Mickey were quick to claim one of the lounges, while Jake made sure to snag a spot next to Javy and Nat on the other one. Bradley stood between the lounges, glancing back and forth silently. The look on his face was far too serious to be completely connected to making a decision regarding the seating arrangements.

“You gonna join us, Bradshaw or are you just gonna stand there all day?” Javy teased, encouraging the rest of the group to jeer at him.

“I was thinking about it, but it doesn’t really look like there’s any room for me.” He replied, glancing pointedly between the two lounges.

Nat smiled and shifted closer to Javy, creating a laughably small amount of space between her and Jake. “Plenty of room for you right here stud.” She said, patting the spot with her hand.

Jake felt himself start to tense up at the thought of Bradshaw slotting himself into the spot Nat was suggesting. There would be room for him, but it would mean the four of them were about to get very up close and personal in a way that Jake and Bradley certainly never had. Jake could imagine it was something Nat had experienced with Bradley before and wasn’t something she had to think twice about.

“Flattery will get you everywhere, Nat.” Bradley replied with a wink as he walked over to join them.

Javy sat pressed up against the back of the couch on one side, Jake mirroring him on the other. Nat sat up and shifted to give Bradley slightly more room to join them. He sat on the edge and let Nat direct him where she wanted him to go. Jake took a deep breath and tried not to react physically when she guided Bradley until his head was gently resting on Jake’s stomach. She then put her head on Javy’s chest and stretched out, so her legs were resting on top of Bradley’s.

Jake took a chance and glanced down at Bradley. His eyes were closed, and he looked calm, content. Like this was a completely normal situation for them to be in. Maybe it was, and Jake was just reading far too much into it. They had all been a physically affectionate group for a while at that point and having one of the guys with their head on his stomach was pretty tame in comparison to the occasional sloppy kisses on the cheek or slapping each other’s asses that tended to happen. Somehow this felt more intimate. Jake was startled out of his train of thought when Bradley suddenly started talking.

“There’s something I wanted to talk to you guys about but I – maybe it’s stupid, maybe you all know already.” Bradley said. “But it feels important, after everything. Doesn’t make sense not to tell you guys at this point.”

Jake saw Nat shift out of the corner of his eye, lifting her head from Javy’s chest to look up at Bradley and resting her chin on her hand. “If it’s stupid, you know we’ll tell you it’s stupid and never let you forget it.” She said. “But I have a feeling it’s not, and I’m never wrong, right boys?”

The various ‘boos’ and scoffs and jeering she got in response made Jake smile. They all knew Nat was rarely wrong, if ever, but getting any of them to admit to it was something else entirely.

“I guess I should start by saying I have Admiral Seresin to thank for this, and I should probably give Claire some credit because when she hears about this, she’ll disown me as her newly appointed best friend if I don’t.” Bradley began. Jake chuckled and it jostled Bradley’s head slightly in the process.

“Claire is easy to talk to, and has a great sense of humor, and is absolutely terrifying when she wants to be. And, don’t hit me Jake, but I do have eyes, so I know she’s beautiful.” Bradley continued. Jake shook his head, amused. If he’d gleaned anything from the conversation with Claire earlier, it was that he didn’t have to worry about Bradshaw’s intentions when it came to her. He may be in a little over his head with the new friendship she’d very suddenly thrust upon him, but he clearly wasn’t trying to get in her pants or take advantage of her.

Nat snorted out a laugh and most of the others tried and failed to stifle their own laughter.

“And while I was flattered by The Admiral making sure to personally introduce us, and we did hit it off right away, I spent most of last night trying to figure out how to break it to him that she wasn’t my type without ending up dishonorably discharged, six feet under somewhere, or both.” Bradley admitted, sounding a bit more sheepish than he had previously.

“I knew you didn’t have taste, Bradshaw. Those godawful Hawaiian shirts you constantly wear told us that a long time ago.” Jake replied, teasing the other man in a way he hoped came across as friendly and reluctantly amused rather than threatening.

“I’d really like to say I’m surprised that you somehow gained the respect of Admiral Seresin without even really trying – and then on top of that, you get him to like you enough that he personally went out of his way to try and set you up with Claire. And you’re not even interested. But somehow that’s so you.” Javy replied, shaking his head.

“Gee thanks, Coyote.” Bradley replied flatly. “It’s not my fault, alright. My life would be a lot fucking easier if I could fall in love with Claire or someone like her and settle down but that’s just not in the cards for me.”

“Why not, man? I know we give you a lot of shit but don’t sell yourself short Rooster. You’re a good dude.” Mickey replied.

“Thanks man, I appreciate that.” Bradley replied. “If I had big career aspirations, I might be tempted to make something like that work for the sake of keeping up appearances. There have been a few women here and there that I’ve been into enough to have casual flings with but honestly, physical attraction is as far as that goes. I’ve only ever seriously dated or been in relationships with men.”

Jake felt himself tense up before he could stop it. Bradley didn’t look in his direction at all, instead keeping his eyes locked with Nat, who was looking back at him with an overwhelming amount of emotion in her eyes. She slowly reached out with the hand that wasn’t supporting her chin and grabbed the hand that was resting on his chest, tangling their fingers together. She gave Bradley’s hand a gentle squeeze before she spoke. “The longest relationship I’ve ever been in was with a woman. I’ve been in love with men and women, but god nothing has ever come close to how she made me feel when we were together.”

Bradley squeezed her hand in return. “I don’t know why I was so nervous to tell you. I had a feeling you’d understand, and I still couldn’t bring myself to just say it.”

On some level, Jake knew Bradley wanted them all to hear it. That the sentiment was meant for all of them, even though it partially felt like a private moment with Nat they were all intruding on. If he had wanted to have that moment with only Nat, there were a million times and places he could’ve chosen where none of the rest of them were around.

Jake’s eyes widened in realization as his brain really started to process what Bradley had said. This was what Claire had been talking about earlier that morning. This was Bradley choosing to start it, and now it was up to Jake to choose to meet him half way and continue it.

“I get it. As much as I love being in the Navy, it doesn’t really feel like a safe space a lot of the time to talk about that kind of stuff.” Nat replied, “Even around people you trust.”

“If we’re doing this, then I guess I should put it out there that I’m hella gay. So, you’ve got my full support Brad.” Mickey admitted, a bright smile on his face.

“I mean, I wouldn’t have phrased it like that, exactly… but the same goes for me. In both cases.” Bob chimed in, a kind smile on his face.

“I am embarrassingly straight, as Jake likes to remind me, but if anyone tries to mess with any of you about the fact that you’re not, you better believe I will throw hands.” Javy added. “No one messes with my friends, especially not about that.”

“I am also a card-carrying member of ‘embarrassingly straight’ club and I second everything Javy just said.” Rueben chimed in, reaching across the space between the lounges to fist-bump the other man.

“As happy as it would make my father if I was, I am not a card-carrying member of that club.” Jake offered, trying to keep his voice from shaking as he put himself out there. “He’s always been supportive of me, in his own way. He’s never made me feel like I should be ashamed of it or anything like that, but he also knows I have career advancement aspirations before I retire and has made it clear that it’s better if I keep my personal life separate.”

For the first time since he laid down, Bradley looked up at Jake. Jake noticed it in his peripheral vision but didn’t look back down at the other man. He didn’t know if he could handle it, in that moment. If he was going to do this – really put himself out there – he wanted to do it right. He needed to get it all out, say what he wanted to say, and then worry about the new information he had learned about Bradley fit into it all later.

Jake was looking over in the direction of the other lounge as he continued. “Not all of us grew up with Iceman and Maverick as our support system, but now that I’ve gotten to know them… I’ve started to believe it might be possible to have both. The long, successful Naval career and the idyllic white picket fence situation.”

Jake felt Bradley laugh before he responded. “They are disgustingly domestic sometimes, so you’re not too far off there.”

Jake couldn’t help but laugh in response and the rest of the group joined in, while also groaning about not wanting to know that much information about their former team leader and the Commander’s love life.

Bradley pulled Natasha in close when she laid back down, placing her head on his chest instead of Javy’s.

“Oh I see how it is, I’m not a good enough pillow all of a sudden?” Javy exclaimed.

Nat huffed out a laugh and rolled her eyes. She gave Bradley a kiss on the cheek before scooting back over to snuggle up close to Javy. He lifted his head slightly as he felt Jake shift underneath him.

“Sit up for a second.” Jake requested softly. Bradley did as he asked and took the opportunity to stretch his arms above his head. Jake had shifted to sit up a bit more than he had been. He nodded at Bradley, who took that as the signal to rejoin him. Jake patted his own chest with his hand.

Bradley shifted up as Jake lifted his arm to accommodate him. He laid his head down but hesitated when it came to settling in any further. Jake made the decision for him by wrapping his arm around Bradley shoulder and angling his body toward him rather than outwards towards Nat. Jake felt his lips twitch up into a small smile as Bradley draped his arm across Jake’s stomach. Having the weight of Bradley’s head on his chest and the warmth of his body tucked into his side felt right. There was nothing awkward about it, outside of the initial settling in and arranging their bodies to find a comfortable position. Jake didn’t know where to put his own hands or what to do with the warmth he felt blooming in his chest as he looked down and really took in the sight of Bradley’s head on his chest. Jake startled a bit as he felt Nat gently take his hand and place it in Bradley’s hair. She shot him an encouraging smile, no teasing or antagonistic intent in her eyes or on her face. Jake only hesitated for a second before he gently started running his hand through the other man’s hair in a way he hoped was comforting. He felt Bradley release a deep breath and any tension that had remained in his body melted away, the other man’s body going boneless against his own. Jake glanced over at Nat again, to find her already looking back at him with a grin on her face. She winked at him before settling back into Javy’s chest.

The silence that fell over the group was comfortable and none of them felt the need to fill it with anything. Jake continued to run his hand through Bradley’s hair, trying to stay as present in that moment as possible. He didn’t want to overthink whatever was happening. Didn’t want to worry about what it meant or could mean. He just wanted to enjoy it for what it was. Jake rarely had a minute to slow down enough to do that anymore.

Jake felt Bradley jolt back into a state of consciousness about half an hour later as hushed conversation was happening around them. Bradley shifted to pull his phone out of his pocket and started tapping at the screen, presumably replying to a text he had received.

“I can hear you thinking from over here. Stop it.” Nat said, poking him in the side.

Bradley flinched slightly at the contact, batting her hand away. “As much as I’d love to not have to think about a single thing right now, someone here has to make sure we get back to the hotel because it’ll end up being my fault if any of you miss your flights.”

The chorus of groans Bradley received in response made him laugh out loud.

“You’re such an old man, trying to get us to behave like responsible adults.” Mickey replied, making an exaggerated gaging noise to get his point across.

“Fuck off Fanboy, I’m not that much older than you guys.” Bradley replied, lifting his hand high enough so that the middle finger he was holding up could be seen from the other lounge.

“I mean, you are the only one of us here that’s over 30…” Javy replied with a grin.

Jake heard Nat choking on a laugh next to them and had to bite his tongue to keep his own laughter at bay.

“I’ve changed my mind. This whole group bonding session we’re having right now was a bad idea. I hate all of you.” Bradley replied.

Jake scoffed. “You wouldn’t last one day without us, and you know it Bradshaw.”

“I’m pretty sure you’ve got that backwards, Bagman.” Bradley replied. “None of you would last a day without me to drag your asses out of bed for training sessions before the sun is up or to remind you when you need to leave for the airport or to make greasy hangover breakfast none of you will admit you love even though you all get annoyed with me when I don’t make it.”

“Alright dad, you’ve made your point.” Nat replied. “Did absolutely nothing to help your case if you want us to stop calling you old man though.”

Bradley sighed, “Well, if it’s officially been decided that my youth is dead and buried, I guess it’s time for me to develop a ‘daddy’ kink. Find someone looking for an older man to teach them a thing or two.”

Loud groaning came from basically everyone and they all started talking over each other in their rush to heckle him.

“God dammit Rooster I did not need that image in my head…”

“I’m completely against kink shaming, but I may have to make an exception just for you dude.”

“Develop one? I call bullshit. No way that isn’t already a thing for you.”

“With those horrendous Hawaiian shirts and the whole pornstache thing being your trademark, why am I even surprised.”

“I am experiencing so much regret right now, remind me to never call you dad in any context ever again.”

Jake ran a hand through his hair and tried very hard not to squirm in his seat. They’d all taken a big step in their friendship that day, having a sort of group coming out party that certainly shifted things in a positive direction. That was something Jake could handle and was glad had happened in such an organic way. Having Bradshaw laying on his chest, joking about developing a ‘daddy kink’ was something Jake had not been at all prepared for and was completely unequipped to handle. It was something Jake himself hadn’t really explored and had never really sounded appealing when he spent time learning about his own personal kinks. But the thought of intentional, skilled hands on his body, prepping and teasing until Jake was chasing the pleasure of release he so desperately needed, being kept right on the edge with permission being withheld from him until Bradshaw heard that magic word falls from his lips. Jake clenched his fists tightly, his nails biting into the skin of his palms to ground him. He could not be having those thoughts – that kind of life-altering, world-shattering revelation with Bradshaw practically in his lap.

Much to Jake’s relief, Bradley sat up and shuffled his way to the edge of the lounge. “Alright kids, I expect you all to be in the car and ready to head back to the hotel in 15.”

Jake watched as Bradley stood, stretching his arms over his head and looked around at the rest of the group as they slowly untangled themselves from one another and stood to join him. Jake was the last to stand up and pretended not to notice the look that Nat was giving him.

He knew Nat well enough to know that wouldn’t be the end of it, but enough of a genuine admiration and respect had grown between the two of them recently and she wouldn’t call him out on it until they could talk privately. Jake wasn’t particularly looking forward to that conversation but there wasn’t much he could do to avoid it without being an asshole about it and he had put in a lot of effort lately to move past that; at least in situations that really mattered. He knew he’d always be a bit of an asshole; it was just part of who he was. Somehow, he’d found a group of people that cared about him anyway and he owed it to them to put in genuine effort when it came to being a better friend than he had been.

Jake found it more difficult than he expected to say goodbye to everyone headed to the airport as they headed out the door. He was glad Javy was staying for another day or two so that he didn’t go from being surrounded by all his friends to none of them. Even though he was looking forward to spending time with Daniel and Claire, his mom, and to a somewhat less enthusiastic extent, his father, he hadn’t been prepared to feel a longing to stay close to the rest of the Daggers even when they were on personal leave. Although promises had been made that they were going to remain a permanent squadron for the foreseeable future, Jake was going to have to work through this deep attachment he’d formed with his team without him realizing it had happened. For the first time in his career, the line between his personal life and professional life was undeniably blurry. It had been crossed in a way he didn’t think he could come back from. Even more surprisingly, he found the thought of going back to the way things were unappealing, to say the least.

He needed to take some time to sort out how he was feeling and what he wanted moving forward before he spent time with the Daggers again, and definitely before Bradshaw came back to spend more time in what had already been deemed his home away from home. He wasn’t sure how much time he had before that happened, but with Claire being in control of the situation he was operating under the assumption Bradshaw was going to be back sooner rather than later. As much as the idea of the other man coming back and spending more time around him and his family made him nervous, Jake couldn’t deny that more than anything found himself looking forward to it.

#hangster #sereshaw #hangman x rooster #rooster x hangman #otp: you look good #ao3 #fanfiction #top gun maverick #jake hangman seresin #bradley rooster bradshaw

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tngrace · 2 years

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Letting Go Ch. 1 Recalled

TGM has wrecked me and taken ahold of me like no movie ever has. I can't stop watching it or thinking about it. I haven't written a multi-chapter fic in so long, IDK what I'm doing anymore. But this has gotten too out of control to be one-shot. I can't promise a regular posing schedule or how long this will be, but I'm going to keep writing until the muse can't anymore. Please leave me your thoughts or anything you'd like to see happen and I'll see what I can do. Happy Reading :)

Rooster is recalled to Top Gun for special mission. He has to face Maverick for the first time since his papers got pulled. He promised his Uncle Ice he would try with Mav, but things are messy and complicated. The mission still happens, they still almost die, but they get their conversation once back on the carrier.

Read on AO3; Letting Go Masterlist

Being Commander of the Pacific Fleet meant he knew all, heard all, saw all. So when the details of the mission came in, he knew what he was going to have to do. He’d spent his career protecting his wingman and his pseudo nephew, even if said nephew didn’t know it. Now that his cancer diagnosis was back, it was time to force their hands for reconciliation. He’d heard both sides of the story; Rooster calling him in a fit of anger demanding he do something to reverse the damage Mav had done, and Mav had called to tell him it was done. He didn’t exactly agree with the way Mav went about doing things, but there was nothing new there either. He let out a sigh as he read over the Pentagon’s request from his Fleet. He knew what he had to do, he just hoped it worked.

Rooster was back stateside within two days of the request being made. It wasn’t until he landed at the Naval base, did he know why he was called back. He saw the message from Uncle Ice on his phone requesting he come by the house and he sighed. It wasn’t that he didn’t love his uncle or that he didn’t want to see him; things had just been different since Uncle Mav did what he did. He’d thought Uncle Ice would help him, but he didn’t, so Bradley set out on his own. But he knew Uncle Ice was still technically his boss, and Bradley was hard pressed to defy orders. He was not his Uncle Maverick no matter what anyone said.

He left from base and went to the house he’d spent a lot of time in growing up. He paused in the driveway watching kids running around playing. He knew Ice and Sarah had grandkids, he’d just never met them; he barely knew their kids if he was being honest with himself. He slowly stepped out of the Bronco he’d picked up from his storage unit and let out a deep sigh. “Here goes nothing,” he sighs as he tucks his aviators into the front of his uniform and closes the door. He knocks on the door and only has to wait just a few minutes before it’s being opened by Aunt Sarah. She pulls him into a tight hug telling him how wonderful it is to see him and it’d been too long.

She takes in his uniform and gives him a knowing look. “He’s in his office. Same room as when you were running wild around here,” she grins, making Rooster chuckle.

“It’s good to see you Aunt Sarah.”

“You too Bradley. Don’t be such a stranger,” she grins to downplay the reprimand, before shooing him off up the stairs to see his uncle. He can’t help but admire the pictures up and down the stairs and hallway as he goes. It’s been a little over ten years since he’s been to this house, and he sees everything he missed out on, everything Mav ruined. He lets out another deep breath before he knocks on the door. He doesn’t want to bring his anger into this when Uncle Ice really didn’t have anything to do with it. He was just here to see what his boss wanted, why he was recalled stateside from his carrier, and he would go from there.

He hears Ice coughing through the door, and he foregoes knocking for cracking the door open. “Sir?” he calls out.

“Bradley, come in.” It’s quiet and sounds labored, making Bradley worried. He knew Ice had cancer a few years ago; it got around base and he wanted to reach out then, but he was deployed shortly after hearing it, and didn’t get a chance. But he thought he’d heard that Ice was in remission and doing better.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Ice sighs. “I’ll be fine.” His uncle looked the same, just older. But Rooster could see the last years have been hard. He regrets not coming around more. “Sir. It’s back isn’t it?” Rooster asks, taking Ice in fully. It’s the only thought circling around his head as he stares at his uncle.

“You knew?” He takes sips of water to keep his throat wet as he watches his nephew just standing in the doorway. He wasn’t sure Bradley had kept up with him or Mav after the disastrous blow up over his Naval Academy admission. It’s nice to know Bradley had kept up some. He motions to the chair across from him, and Rooster nods before pulling it closer. “It got around base. I got deployed before I could call but I knew. I…” he breaks off swallowing down his emotions.

“It’s ok.” Ice reaches out squeezing Bradley’s hand hearing everything he can’t say. He’s not sure if it would be welcomed, but he can’t not comfort him. Rooster looks at his uncle’s hand before looking up at him, a man he admired and respected more than anyone knew. “I should’ve called, written, anything. I shouldn’t have just cut you and Aunt Sarah off.”

Ice motions to the laptop in front of him and Bradley gives him a confused look, but he nods. Sometimes it’s easier to type when I have a lot to say. It saves my voice . Rooster reads it and swallows down more emotion. His uncle is worse off than he expected. “Of course Sir. Whatever you need.”

Ice gives him another sad smile before turning back to type more. First, you can drop the formalities. I made it an official request you come so you would actually come. But you’re not only here for business.

Bradley gives him a half smirk but nods, so Ice continues typing. How are you?

They catch up on Bradley’s life since he joined the Navy. Ice knew the majority of it, but he wanted to hear it from his nephew’s perspective and not a report coming across his desk. When Bradley asks him once more about his diagnosis, Ice lets out a soft sigh, but is honest with him. Yes, it’s back. Not much else they can do. This will be my last mission to oversea formally. The “I don’t know how long I have left,” is left unsaid, but Bradley hears it all the same.

Bradley reads the words over and over. He missed out on so much, let his anger keep him from his family, and he’s seeing now how stupid that was. He has to blink back tears as he lets the words keep sinking in. “Mission sir?” he whispers, not sure he can trust his voice to be strong.

Ice turns back to face him, and Bradley knows it must be serious. “Bradley, I know you’re one of the best; I know you were top of your class at Top Gun.” Bradley gives him a nod; he’s really not surprised Ice kept up with him. He'd be more shocked if he hadn’t. “This mission is requiring me to recall twelve of the best fighter pilots from recent Top Gun classes.” He turns back to the laptop; I need to know you’re ok. I need to know, you can forgive him.

Bradley freezes as he reads that; he knows exactly who Ice is talking about without him spelling it out. Ice turns back to him with sad eyes. He has no idea what his uncles would’ve talked about in the years since he last talked to them, but he knows they’ve talked, and he knows they would’ve talked about him. “Sir? What does that have to do with anything?” he finally grits out.

Ice’s head drops just a fraction, and Bradley knows that’s not the answer he was looking for.

“Everything.”

Bradley gets up and paces the room; he doesn’t think he can ever forgive Mav without a proper explanation. He knows the one he got when he confronted Mav about pulling his papers was bullshit, but Uncle Ice hadn’t been willing to tell him the truth either; he backed his wingman all the way, and it cost their relationship too. Ice’s whispered words skate across every nerve ending in his body. He knew now his uncle only spoke when it was important and for him to say “everything,” Bradley knew he meant it.

“Get him to tell me the truth,” Bradley finally gets out, staring at the picture behind Ice’s desk of his two uncles. They were his favorite people growing up. They were there for everything important and especially when his mom got sick. He doesn’t realize how much he’s missed them until this moment, not just Ice, but Mav too. Mav was everything to Bradley growing up, and he doesn’t understand why Mav threw it all away.

Ice is quiet watching him. “Bradley,” he whispers and the boy’s eyes snap back to him from the picture.

“I’ll try. But you know your uncle is stubborn.”

Bradley huffs a laugh, but nods. “I just want to know the truth, Uncle Ice.” Ice gives him another nod, not revealing his emotions at having the privilege of being called uncle once more. He’s an adult now, he’s not some teenager running strictly on hormones and feelings. He knows the kid could handle it, but he’s not sure Mav can. He motions to the seat once more; he doesn’t want Bradley to go to Top Gun and be blindsided, even though that’s exactly what he’s planning on doing to Maverick. He explains the mission, explains that half the ones recalled will end up staying on the ship in reserve during the mission. And as he watches Bradley take it all in, digest the seriousness of it, he drops the final bomb when Bradley asks who’s teaching them. Because there’s only two people he knows that could pull off a mission this crazy, and he’s looking at one of them. He knows there’s no way Ice is up for teaching again.

Ice just looks at him and Bradley feels his body tensing once more. “No! Ice no. I can’t. There’s no way. He didn’t even make it two months teaching with you before he pissed off Aunt Penny’s dad again.”

Ice snorted at that because it was true; Maverick was excellent at pissing off Admirals and if it wasn't for Ice swooping in and saving the day more than once, Mav would already have been dishonorably discharged. He was fixing to do it again, since he’d just heard how Mav had disobeyed Admiral Cain on the testing project before Bradley arrived, but he knew Mav was the only one for this job.

He’s the only one. You’re one of the twelve being recalled. I need to know this will work.

Bradley read the words over and over. He knew Ice was right, but it didn’t mean he liked it. “I don’t know that I can forgive him, that I can trust him,” Rooster finally grits out.

Ice gives him a sad look, but he understands. “I’ll talk to him. Just promise me you’ll try.”

Rooster gives him another nod after several long moments of silence. “I promise,” he whispers. Aunt Sarah chooses that moment to knock on the door and inform them Bradley was staying for supper and she would hear no arguments. “Yes mam,” he smiles. He turns back to his uncle who stands with him. “I’m not making any promises, but I’ll try. I know you’ll get all the reports. I won’t disrespect him openly. He outranks me anyway, but I want to know the truth. I want to know why he destroyed our family.” He gets it out without crying, which he is rather proud of himself for, and then he pulls his uncle into a hug and tells him how glad he is that Ice requested this meeting. He’s not sure how the coming weeks will go, but he’s grateful Ice gave him the time stateside before everyone else and gave him a chance to prepare for seeing his long lost uncle-pseudo dad.

#top gun maverick #top gun maverick fic #tgm #tgm fic #my writing #Bradley Bradshaw #rooster #pete mitchell #maverick #father/son fic

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bignaz8 · 2 years

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From the "Reflections on Pearl Harbor" by Admiral Chester Nimitz:

"Sunday, December 7th, 1941— Admiral Chester Nimitz was attending a concert in Washington, DC. He was paged and told there was a phone call for him. When he answered the phone, it was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on the phone.

He told Admiral Nimitz that he (Nimitz) would now be the Commander of the Pacific Fleet. Admiral Nimitz flew to Hawaii to assume command of the Pacific Fleet. He landed at Pearl Harbor on Christmas Eve, 1941. There was such a spirit of despair, dejection and defeat--you would have thought the Japanese had already won the war.

On Christmas Day, 1941, Adm. Nimitz was given a boat tour of the destruction wrought on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. Big sunken battleships and navy vessels cluttered the waters everywhere you looked. As the tour boat returned to dock, the young helmsman of the boat asked, "Well Admiral, what do you think after seeing all this destruction?"

Admiral Nimitz's reply shocked everyone within the sound of his voice. Admiral Nimitz said, "The Japanese made three of the biggest mistakes an attack force could ever make, or God was taking care of America. Which do you think it was?"

Shocked and surprised, the young helmsman asked, "What do mean by saying the Japanese made the three biggest mistakes an attack force ever made?

Nimitz explained:

MISTAKE NUMBER ONE:

The Japanese attacked on Sunday morning. Nine out of every ten crewmen of those ships were ashore on leave. If those same ships had been lured to sea and been sunk--we would have lost 38,000 men instead of 3,800.

MISTAKE NUMBER TWO:

When the Japanese saw all those battleships lined in a row, they got so carried away sinking those battleships, they never once bombed our dry docks opposite those ships. If they had destroyed our dry docks, we would have had to tow every one of those ships to America to be repaired. As it is now, the ships are in shallow water and can be raised. One tug can pull them over to the dry docks, and we can have them repaired and at sea by the time we could have towed them to America. And I already have crews ashore anxious to man those ships.

MISTAKE NUMBER THREE:

Every drop of fuel in the Pacific theater of war is in top of the ground storage tanks five miles away over that hill. One attack plane could have strafed those tanks and destroyed our fuel supply.

That's why I say the Japanese made three of the biggest mistakes an attack force could make or, God was taking care of America."

Admiral Nimitz was able to see a silver lining in a situation and circumstance where everyone else saw only despair and defeatism. President Roosevelt had chosen the right man for the right job.

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greatworldwar2 · 3 years

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• Doris Miller

Doris "Dorie" Miller was a United States Navy cook third class. He was the first black American to be awarded the Navy Cross, the second highest decoration for valor in combat after the Medal of Honor.

Miller was born in Waco, Texas, on October 12th, 1919, to Connery and Henrietta Miller. He was named Doris, as the midwife who assisted his mother was convinced before his birth that the baby would be a girl. He was the third of four sons and helped around the house, cooked meals and did laundry, as well as working on the family farm. He was a fullback on the football team at Waco's Alexander James Moore High School. He began attending the eighth grade again on January 25th, 1937, at the age of 17 but was forced to repeat the grade the following year, so he decided to drop out of school. He filled his time squirrel hunting with a .22 rifle and completed a correspondence course in taxidermy. He applied to join the Civilian Conservation Corps, but was not accepted. At that time, he was 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m) tall and weighed more than 200 pounds (91 kg). Miller worked on his father's farm until shortly before his 20th birthday. Miller's nickname "Dorie" may have originated from a typographical error. He was nominated for recognition for his actions on December 7th, 1941, and the Pittsburgh Courier released a story on March 14th, 1942, which gave his name as "Dorie Miller". Since then, some writers have suggested that it was a "nickname to shipmates and friends."

Miller enlisted in the United States Navy for six years on September 16th, 1939. He did his recruit training at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia, then was promoted to mess attendant third class, one of the few ratings open at the time to black sailors. After training school, he was assigned to the ammunition ship Pyro (AE-1) and then transferred on January 2nd, 1940, to the Colorado-class battleship West Virginia (BB-48). It was on the West Virginia where he started competition boxing, becoming the ship's heavyweight champion. In July, he was on temporary duty aboard the Nevada (BB-36) at Secondary Battery Gunnery School. He returned to the West Virginia on August 3rd. He was promoted to mess attendant second class on February 16th, 1941.

Miller was a crewman aboard the West Virginia and awoke at 6 a.m. on December 7th, 1941. He served breakfast mess and was collecting laundry at 7:57 a.m. when Lieutenant Commander Shigeharu Murata from the Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi launched the first of seven torpedoes that hit West Virginia. The "Battle Stations" alarm went off; Miller headed for his battle station, an anti-aircraft battery magazine amidships, only to discover that a torpedo had destroyed it. He went then to "Times Square" on deck, a central spot aboard the ship where the fore-to-aft and port-to-starboard passageways crossed, reporting himself available for other duty and was assigned to help carry wounded sailors to places of greater safety. Lieutenant Commander Doir C. Johnson, the ship's communications officer, spotted Miller and saw his physical prowess, so he ordered him to accompany him to the conning tower on the flag bridge to assist in moving the ship's captain, Mervyn Bennion, who had a gaping wound in his abdomen where he had apparently been hit by shrapnel after the first Japanese attack. Miller and another sailor lifted the skipper but were unable to remove him from the bridge, so they carried him on a cot from his exposed position on the damaged bridge to a sheltered spot on the deck behind the conning tower where he remained during the second Japanese attack. Captain Bennion refused to leave his post, questioned his officers and men about the condition of the ship, and gave orders and instructions to crew members to defend the ship and fight. Unable to go to the deck below because of smoke and flames, he was carried up a ladder to the navigation bridge, where he died from the loss of too much blood despite aid. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

Lieutenant Frederic H. White had ordered Miller to help him and Ensign Victor Delano load the unmanned number 1 and number 2 Browning .50 caliber anti-aircraft machine guns aft of the conning tower. Miller was not familiar with the weapon, but White and Delano instructed him on how to operate it. Delano expected Miller to feed ammunition to one gun, but his attention was diverted and, when he looked again, Miller was firing one of the guns. White then loaded ammunition into both guns and assigned Miller the starboard gun. Miller fired the gun until he ran out of ammunition, when he was ordered by Lieutenant Claude V. Ricketts to help carry the captain up to the navigation bridge out of the thick oily smoke generated by the many fires on and around the ship; Miller who was officially credited with downing at least two enemy planes. "I think I got one of those Jap planes. They were diving pretty close to us," he said later. Japanese aircraft eventually dropped two armor-piercing bombs through the deck of the battleship and launched five 18-inch (460 mm) aircraft torpedoes into her port side. When the attack finally lessened, Miller helped move injured sailors through oil and water to the quarterdeck, thereby "unquestionably saving the lives of a number of people who might otherwise have been lost." The ship was heavily damaged by bombs, torpedoes, and resulting explosions and fires, but the crew prevented her from capsizing by counter-flooding a number of compartments. Instead, West Virginia sank to the harbor bottom in shallow water as her surviving crew abandoned ship, including Miller; the ship was raised and restored for continued service in the war. On the West Virginia, 132 men were killed and 52 were wounded from the Japanese attack. On December 13, Miller reported to the heavy cruiser Indianapolis (CA-35).

On January 1st, 1942, the Navy released a list of commendations for actions on December 7th. Among them was a single commendation for an unnamed black man. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) had asked President Franklin D. Roosevelt to award the Distinguished Service Cross to the unknown black sailor. The Navy Board of Awards received a recommendation that the sailor be considered for recognition. On March 12th, an Associated Press story named Miller as the sailor, citing the African-American newspaper Pittsburgh Courier; additional news reports credited Lawrence D. Reddick with learning the name through correspondence with the Navy Department. In the following days, Senator James M. Mead (D-NY) introduced a Senate bill to award Miller the Medal of Honor, and Representative John D. Dingell, Sr. (D-MI) introduced a matching House bill. Miller was recognized as one of the "first US heroes of World War II". He was commended in a letter signed by Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox on April 1st, and the next day, CBS Radio broadcast an episode of the series They Live Forever, which dramatized Miller's actions. Black organizations began a campaign to honor Miller with additional recognition. On April 4, the Pittsburgh Courier urged readers to write to members of the congressional Naval Affairs Committee in support of awarding the Medal of Honor to Miller. On May 11th, President Roosevelt approved the Navy Cross for Miller. On May 27th, Miller was personally recognized by Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet, aboard the aircraft carrier Enterprise (CV-6) at anchor in Pearl Harbor. Nimitz said of Miller's commendation, "This marks the first time in this conflict that such high tribute has been made in the Pacific Fleet to a member of his race and I'm sure that the future will see others similarly honored for brave acts."

Miller was advanced in rank to mess attendant first class on June 1st, 1942. On June 27th, the Pittsburgh Courier called for him to be allowed to return home for a war bond tour along with white war heroes. On November 23rd, Miller returned to Pearl Harbor and was ordered on a war bond tour while still attached to Indianapolis. In December, and January 1943, he gave presentations in Oakland, California, in his hometown of Waco, in Dallas, and to the first graduating class of black sailors from Great Lakes Naval Training Station. He was featured on the 1943 Navy recruiting poster "Above and beyond the call of duty", designed by David Stone Martin. He then reported to Puget Sound Navy Yard at Bremerton, Washington on May 15th, 1943 when he was assigned to the newly constructed escort carrier Liscome Bay (CVE-56). He was advanced in rank to cook third class on June 1st. The ship had a crew of 960 men, and its primary functions were to serve as a convoy escort, to provide aircraft for close air support during amphibious landing operations, and to ferry aircraft to naval bases and fleet carriers at sea. After training in Hawaii waters, Liscome Bay left Pearl Harbor on November 10th, 1943 to join the Northern Task Force, Task Group 52. Miller's carrier took part in the Battle of Makin (invasion of Makin by units of the Army's 165th Regimental Combat Team, 27th Infantry Division) which had begun on November 20th. On November 24th, the day after Makin was captured by American soldiers and the eve of Thanksgiving that year (the cooks had broken out the frozen turkeys from Pearl Harbor), the Liscome Bay was cruising near Butaritari (Makin's Atol's main island) when it was struck just before dawn in the stern by a torpedo from the Japanese submarine I-175 (fired four torpedoes at Task Group 5312). The carrier's own torpedoes and aircraft bombs including 2,0000 pounders were detonated a few moments later, causing the ship to sink in 23 minutes. There were 272 survivors from the crew of over 900, but Miller was among the two-thirds of the crew listed as "presumed dead". His parents were informed that he was missing in action on December 7th, 1943. Liscome Bay was the only ship lost in the Gilbert Islands operation.

A memorial service was held for Miller on April 30th, 1944, at the Second Baptist Church in Waco, Texas, sponsored by the Victory Club. On May 28th, a granite marker was dedicated at Moore High School in Waco to honor him. Miller was officially declared dead by the Navy on November 25th, 1944, a year and a day after the loss of Liscome Bay. One of his brothers also had served during World War II. Miller was 24 years old at the time of his death. Miller's legacy continues in many memorials to his service. Doris Miller Memorial, a public art installation honoring Miller on the banks of the Brazos River in Waco, Texas. A bronze commemorative plaque at the Doris Miller Park housing community located near Naval Station Pearl Harbor; organized by the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority and dedicated on October 12th, 1991, which would have been Miller's 72nd birthday. Even the U.S Navy honored Miller with the USS Miller (FF-1091), a destroyer escort (reclassified as a Knox-class frigate on June 30th, 1975) was commissioned on June 30th, 1973, in honor of Miller. Miller's likeness and story has also been portrayed in films, such as Miller being awarded the Navy Cross was portrayed in the 2019 film Midway. In Michael Bay's 2001 film Pearl Harbor, Miller is portrayed by actor Cuba Gooding Jr. Although he is not identified by name, Miller is portrayed by Elven Havard in the 1970 film Tora! Tora! Tora!

#second world war #world war ii #world war 2 #wwii #military history #history #biography #black history month #black history #u.s history #us navy #pearl harbor #unsung hero

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tinseltine · 2 years

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Up until a week ago, the last time I saw TOP GUN was in the theaters in 1986. It’s never been one that would make my Letterboxd List of Movies I Can Watch Again and Again, but I love that for so many others, both male and female, it is. Nothing like nostalgia for a movie that just makes you feel good and nothing like a movie that so perfectly captures a time period with pop-culture resonance abounding 36 years later.

That being said, I don’t think the original Top Gun is a good movie – it’s hard to follow WTF is going on in the countless flying/dogfight/MiG scenes. In terms of the romance between Charlie (Kelly McGillis) and Maverick (Tom Cruise) I get that he was attracted to his superior who was a bit older and more sophisticated, but Cruise didn’t even look 22, he’s got such a baby face in this movie he could have been playing a 16 year-old. She never would have fallen for that cocky kid, she just would have used him for a night or two. And yeah, I get the bromance between Goose (Anthony Edwards) and Maverick, and Goose subsequently dying is the crux of the movie… I was more into the scenes with Goose’s wife played by Meg Ryan, because at the time, she had just left As The World Turns and she still had her Betsey Andropolis hair cut. IDK basically, Top Gun for me is just one fun soundtrack.

Now, TOP GUN: MAVERICK with Mr. Cinematic (Cruise) Executive Producing the whole thing, has a bit more weight. He and this set of writers bring more story and structure, better dialogue and explanation of the still countless (I know, that’s the point of the movie) real flying scenes.

It seems since last we saw Pete “Maverick” Mitchell not a lot has changed. He’s still taking chances, he’s still got the same motorcycle and jacket (original from Top Gun) doesn’t appear he ever married, and he’s still a captain flying planes for the Navy. “You won’t retire, despite your best efforts you refuse to die, you should be at least a 2 star admiral by now, yet here you are Captain, why is that?” says Radm. Chester ‘Hammer’ Cain (Ed Harris) angry at Maverick for yet again disobeying orders.

This latest stunt could have had him dishonorably discharged, but he’s still got friends in high places – Admiral Tom “Iceman” Kazansky, the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet (Val Kilmer). Who has commissioned Maverick to come back to train a group of Top Gun graduates for a specialized mission. These are this generation’s Best of the Best – Female pilot “Phoenix” (Monica Barbaro), “Payback” (Jay Ellis), “Fanboy” (Danny Ramirez), “Coyote” (Greg Tarzan Davis), ‘the new Iceman’, is super cocky “Hangman” (Glen Powell), I like that his helmet is spelled with some of the letters missing like the game. And last but not least, is Lt. Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (Miles Teller) son of Goose and like a son to Maverick. I remember thinking when I heard Teller was in the movie that he would be much older than the recruits of the original Top Gun, and he is, which is at the center of Rooster and Maverick’s rift.

Rounding out the main characters is the antagonist Adm. Beau “Cyclone” Simpson (Jon Hamm – here’s a great podcast interview with Hamm) on how thrilled he was to be asked to join this iconic legacy. And Penny Benjamin (Jennifer Connelly), you may remember her name is mentioned as an Admiral’s daughter Maverick is caught with in the original, during the scene when Maverick and Goose are being reprimanded. This is an easy way for the writers to add in a little romance with a character from the past, without having to give her a lot of backstory or motive. Connelly plays into it, giving Penny plenty of sexy, confident, playful body language. She and Cruise definitely have chemistry.

Yes, I agree with what most are saying, if you loved “Top Gun”, you’ll love “Top Gun: Maverick”, if you only kinda liked “Top Gun”, you’ll still find this sequel to be a well-done popcorn blockbuster meant for 2020, enjoyed in 2022.

#movie review #movies #franchise #top gun #maverick #tom cruise #jon hamm #summer movies #naval air station #filmmaking #storytelling

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theorangelifeofriley · 3 years

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Honolulu: Pearl Harbor, Punchbowl

July 24, 2021

We were to meet our driver at 8am this morning for our day at Pearl Harbor and the Punchbowl. There was much confusion about what to pack, since Pearl Harbor doesn’t allow bags at all – except maybe a small clear sandwich bag. I brought my home made wristlet – made out of a clear sandwich bag and some duck tape. We all packed things in my little wristlet for the day.

We got down to the little sitting area next to the pull-through driveway and our group was congregated with our guide for the day, Olav. Olav told us that we didn’t actually have anywhere to be until 1:30pm, so we had some time to make sure that we all had what we needed. And also that he would be with us all day and we’d be in the same car all day. He also strongly recommended hats and water bottles. We made several trips back up to the room to grab things. We also learned that Olav is unvaccinated, doesn’t believe in COVID-19, and is a staunch Republican who believes in his “Constitutional rights.” He is also an incredible font of knowledge about Pearl Harbor, and only occasionally threw in some of his slanted views. There is no way I’m going to be able to capture, or remember, all the information he told us – it was a continuous stream of knowledge for about 8 hours.

Eventually, we had all of our stuff, and we walked to the 15-passenger van, parked on the street behind the hotel. After we got settled, Olav took off through the city to the Punchbowl. The Punchbowl is a volcanic crater in the hills surrounding Honolulu. The center is a bowl – the crater – and they punched a hole through one of the crater’s rims to allow entry into the bowl. Hence the name – Punchbowl. Inside the Punchbowl is a national cemetery. There’s a monument at the end of it, and on the steps up to the monument is where Hawai’i holds memorial services for Veteran’s Day and Dec. 7. We’re not allowed to get out inside the Punchbowl, but we can drive through. Lining the driveway in the Punchbowl are Banyan trees donated to the US from China. China was our ally during World War II, and we helped to defeat the Japanese who had invaded and were conquering China. There are 48 trees, which represent the 48 states at the time of World War II. They’re beautiful trees that have been groomed to prevent additional roots from taking root.

The area is quiet and calm, and beautiful. There are no traditional white headstones like in Arlington. Instead, the headstones are flat. They used to be white wooden crosses but were changed to flat stone headstones to respect other religions – and allow for easier maintenance.

From the Punchbowl, we drove to Pearl Harbor, and to the USS Missouri BB 63, which is now a museum. As we drove through the city, Olav pointed out a neighborhood that burned when a bomb went astray on Dec. 7, 1941. He also described in detail what happened on Dec. 7, 1941 – the day Pearl Harbor was attacked. We learned about the SS Cynthia Olson which was sank en route from the mainland and Honolulu by a Japanese submarine on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941. The passenger ship was carrying two soldiers to Honolulu but was a passenger ship. There’s a photo of the Cynthia Olson as it was sinking taken by a Japanese soldier on the submarine. The Cynthia Olson got a may day call out, and another passenger ship heard the call. That second passenger ship confiscated all the passenger’s binoculars and assigned watch duty to the passengers. When that ship landed, the USA government confiscated all of their radio records and logs. Olav believes the records were confiscated because they show the time of the Cynthia Olson’s may day call. If that call happened before the bombing at Pearl Harbor, but was ignored, it would look very bad for the US military command.

As we entered the Pearl Harbor base, we drove to a parking lot and Olav left us to get an officer who cam back and searched our van for bags. Once that was done, we drove over the bridge to Ford Island and the USS Missouri BB-63. BB-63 stands for Battle Boat 63 – the 63rd battleship the US built. This is necessary because there have been four USS Missouri’s. The current USS Missouri is a submarine that was also docked at Pearl Harbor today. Of course you can’t call it BS-63 (battleship 63) – so battle boat 63 it is. The BB-63 was the last battleship built in the world, the most powerful, and the last one to retire. It was launched during World War II, saw battle in the Battle of Okinawa, was where the Instrument of Surrender was signed by the Japanese to officially end World War II, served in the Korean War, was decommissioned in the 60s, then refitted in the 80s, saw duty in Desert Storm, before finally being retired in the early 90s, then being made into a museum. Its parked in Battleship Row – where all the Battleships were anchored on Dec. 7.

Olav told us a lot about how the Pacific Fleet came to be in Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7 – but then he seemed to contradict himself. The first story was that FDR ordered the Pacific Fleet to all be at Pearl Harbor as a “show of strength” to deter the Japanese. The Admiral of the Pacific Fleet thought this was stupid, because normally the Pacific Fleet rotated between several locations, and there was not enough of a supply chain, let alone docking berths, to allow the entire fleet to be in Pearl Harbor. He resisted, basically told FDR he was dumb, and lost his job. He had worked on the supply line, though, and worked on the docking situation too – which is how Battleship Row came to be.

As he told this story, I gathered that the next Admiral did as FDR wished and assembled the entire Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor. Olav made a point to say that FDR ignored the military advisors, and his Admiral, and all their knowledge to demand the fleet be in Pearl Harbor. Later, he told us that every year, the Admiral of the Pacific Fleet was required to inspect the fleet in Pearl Harbor. This always occurred on the Monday after the first Sunday in December. In 1941, that was Dec. 8. The Fleet was required to report to Pearl Harbor 24 -48 hours in advance of the inspection. Which then means that the fleet was assembled in Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7 in preparation for the inspection on Dec. 8 – which doesn’t seem to have a lot to do with FDR.

The deck of the Mighty Mo is covered in teak, which they did to preserve the steel deck, to lower the temperature inside the boat, and to provide a natural nonslip surface. The teak on the deck has been replaced three times, all using different processes. One time they messed up trying to save money by putting 1 inch of Douglas Fir below 1 inch of team (instead of 2 inches of teak) – not realizing that Douglas Fir rots faster than teak.

During WWII, the Missouri was attacked by a Kamikaze, which was captured perfectly on camera. We saw the place where the Kamikaze’s wing impacted with the Missouri. We also saw footprints on the deck where our personnel stood as they buried the Kamikaze pilot at sea as directed by the Missouri’s captain.

We toured the inside of the ship, which was interesting. They had several displays with stuff from the Missouri, the history of the Missouri, remnants from the Kamikaze attack, etc. We walked through the galley, the kitchens, the offices – including the dental office – the food lines, including the donut shop, the fast food line, and the Truman line, so called because the Truman family visited and used that food line. There were crew quarters everywhere – berths stacked 3 high, and each sailor’s locker. The kitchens were crazy – the appliances were huge, and they had everything you could want! Well, all the kitchen toys you could want. The Missouri was the first ship to have a network of interconnected computers which they called MO-Net. This was all before the internet was created. The inside of the Missouri was extensive – it seemed to go on and on. We saw throughout the ship ammunition chutes. And a couple of places that would be vulnerable to armor piercing rounds which can pierce through 16” of steel – so these areas were outfitted with 17” think steel. The guns on the ship were huge and could take out a target 25 miles away. The guns had to be fired over the water, because the rounds were fired at twice the speed of sound, and the concussion would tear the ship apart if the guns were fired over the ship. Missouri, the state, was responsible for providing the fancy silverware and place settings – which is interesting. There was a great map that showed where all of the different USS Missouris served. We saw the Chief’s lounge, and the Captain’s lounge, which was also used as a war room, and the tables can be used as operating tables in a pinch. It was a great insight into what the ship would have looked like while it was in service.

When we were finished touring the inside of the boat, we went to the deck, and then to the Quarter Deck. On the Mighty Mo, the Quarter Deck has been renamed the Surrender Deck, because it was where the Japanese surrendered to the Allied Forces to end World War II. Olav told a story about how MacArthur stepped out of the navigation bridge to walk down to the Quarter Deck but noticed that the Japanese contingent hadn’t arrived yet. So he went back inside, saying, “I’m not going to wait for them. They will wait for me.” He also told us that the British brought a fancy table they wanted to use for the signing, but the papers they were signing were too large to fit on the table. The Missouri’s Captain ordered a seaman to grab a folding table from the ship, and they used that. One of the Japanese had a false leg, and as he was coming up to sign the papers, he stumbled and hit one of the legs of the folding table. The crew, who knew it was a folding table, held their breath for the rest of the ceremony – hoping that the table didn’t collapse. (It didn’t.)

On the Surrender Deck, there is a plaque where the table was and the documents were signed. There’s also a display with replicas of the documents. On the replicas, you can see that the Canadian representative signed on the wrong line on the first document. There’s a picture of someone making sure that he signed on the correct line on the second copy!

They’ve positioned the Missouri so that the bow of the battleship points to the bow of the USS Arizona. The ship that started the US involvement in WWII and the ship where WWII ended pointing to each other.

We finished on the Missouri, went to the gift shop, got some Dole Whip, and then drove to the Pearl Harbor Memorial area for lunch. Lunch was at a permanent food truck outside, and was decent, although Meg and Marie didn’t like their nachos or hot dog. After lunch, we went to watch a 20-minute movie about the attack on Pearl Harbor, before making our way to the ferry to the USS Arizona Memorial.

Olav detailed how the attack happened but of course I’m not going to remember everything. There were three waves of attacks – the dive bombers, the torpedoes, and the other type of bombers. Eek. They came from different directions, and in two separate waves. There were about… or over?... 300 planes in total. The battle lasted for 2 hours. Most all of the ships that were sunk were eventually retrieved and put back into service, except for the Arizona, the Oklahoma, and the Utah. The Japanese adjusted bombs? Or torpedoes? With an additional fin that allowed them to fun in the shallow waters of Pearl Harbor and hit Battleship row. I think Olav also indicated that the aerial bombers were not the ones that caused the most damage, generally – it was the torpedoes.

The ride out to the memorial was quick – the warnings about not misbehaving on an active Navy boat were almost as long as the ride itself. Once the ferry docks, we disembarked, and headed back to the back room. The memorial itself is a white concrete building. The architect was a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps and wanted to build the memorial to remember the lives that were spent to save and free so many across the world, including in the concentration camps. The structure is a loose U-shape. The low point in the middle represents initial defeat at Pearl Harbor. The inclines on either side represent the slow climb to victory in Europe and the slow climb to victory in the Pacific. There are seven cut outs along either side and the top, which were for structural integrity, but have later been said to represent a 21-gun salute. The structure is situated across the middle of the sunken USS Arizona – the ship heaviest hit by the attack on Dec. 7. 1,177 seamen were lost with the Arizona and never recovered. Another 41 of the survivors, or relatives of those lost, have chosen to be interred in the Arizona.

As soon as I set foot on the dock, I smelled the oil or gasoline from the wreck. You could see it on the water, too. There is oil still leaking from the ship and will continue to leak for decades more. There were a lot of people at the memorial, but it was mostly quiet, as is fitting. We walked right back to the room where the names of those buried here are displayed. It’s made of the same marble as the headstones in Arlington. The room is beautiful but somber.

Just outside of that room is a hole in the floor of the structure that is situated over a part of the ship. I didn’t see much there. Outside, on either end of the structure, there are two white buoys that represent where the bow and the stern of the ship are. There are also pieces of the ship, like the gun turrets, and the flag staff, that are still sticking out above the water. It was a moving experience.

After the ferry back to the main site, we went and toured the USS Bowfin – a retired submarine that is only 27’ in circumference. It was tiny, and holy cow does it seem miserable to have served on it. They call it the Silent Service – the work of the submarines. The Bowfin was launched on Dec. 7, 1942, and was therefore nicknamed The Pearl Harbor Avenger. The kitchen was tiny, and only had minimal toys. Olav tells us that the food was cooked on the mainland, frozen, and placed in the submarine’s freezers.

The worst thing was hot bunking. There were only 36 bunks on board the submarine, but about 86 sailors on board. So they rotated beds – multiple people shared a bed. With the temperatures on the submarine running in the 90s or 100s, the beds were wet with the other guy’s sweat. Yuck.

The doorways between the areas of the ship were so small and short too! It was a workout to squat and contort myself through the doorways.

After the Bowfin, we drove back to the city Olav was kind enough to drive us to Costco. This Costco is the busiest on in America. I didn’t go in, but the parking lot was crazy! Anne, Aimee, and Marie went in to get food for the next few days, and they did a great job! Then, it was back to the hotel, and our time with Olav was over. He is a knowledgeable, talkative tour guide to be sure!

Back in the room, some of us split up for naps and downtime until dinner at 6:30. Rileys, Drew, and Todd stayed at our place to watch the Olympics and drink the 5th of rum we bought the night before. Todd made us a whole series of frozen drinks that were great, and did the job! We had a raucous good time watching Men’s Street Skateboarding, where the athletes wiped out more than they landed tricks. It was brutal!

We had tacos for dinner, and continued watching the Olympics, and the activity on the ocean. From our view from the living room and our balcony, we can see all the hundreds of surfers always hanging out on the water, and the couple that actually make surfing runs. There’s a lot of boat traffic, including a lot of boats that go out to watch the sunset. There’s also a surprising number of large cargo ships that travel pretty close to this beach. It was a great time tonight!

#alohabeaches #july24 #2021 #hawaii #honolulu #pearl harbor #punchbowl

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leximus98 · 3 years

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Airborne All The Way - Dick Winters x OC

Summary: Memories are fleeting. Charlie knows if she doesn’t get them all down, and soon, they’ll be gone. War, love, loss... she wanted to write it all down for future generations to come.

Charlie Finnegan had been a nurse before the war. After Pearl Harbor, she felt the same call to arms that many men felt. When Elanor Roosevelt started a program where women could join the Army on a trial basis, Charlie jumped on it. She became an officer and volunteered for the Airborne. Along the way she met Harry Welsh and the ever calm and collected Richard Winters. Through trial and error, Charlie gains the respect of her men, but can she gain the eye of a certain red haired officer?

A/N: So, I haven’t posted anything original in a long time. But I’ve had a really good idea for a story and I wanted to share it. I hope everyone likes it. It’s gonna be multi-chapter, this is just chapter one. Lemme know what you think!

Warnings: None

Tag List: If you’d like to be tagged, lemme know!

Word Count: 1824

Chapter One

“Why would you want to join the Airborne?”

It was a question I was asked frequently. In the early days, I would answer by saying, “It’s new!” or “It’s exciting!”

The answer changed over time though. When I was in the 82nd, I told people that it was to prove that girls could do it too. When they shipped me over to the 101st, I found a new answer. One I didn’t expect I’d find. But I found it in Easy Company.

“Because they’re my family. I would do anything for them.”

Of course that answer came more easily after D-Day. I hadn’t truly earned the respect of the men until that day, even though I grew to love them before then.

It all started one warm, wet afternoon.

Lieutenant Harry Welsh and myself had just been sent over from the 82nd. We were going to fill the positions of platoon leaders. Harry would be taking over first platoon and I would be taking over second.

As we walked by all of the soldiers, they were sitting around in their dress uniforms, waiting for the train. Their initial training and airborne training had been completed. Now they were going to be shipped off to either Europe or Asia to fight in the war. Battalion Intelligence hadn’t told anybody where we were going or which war we would be fighting. It was all a surprise, but for good reason. If word slipped out to the wrong people, it would be devastating.

Harry and I were told to find First Lieutenant Richard Winters. He was the Executive Officer of Easy Company. I’d heard of Dick Winters from friends of mine, he was good at his job and cared for his soldiers. I would be glad to be working under somebody like him. But I had also heard rumblings about the company’s Commanding Officer, Captain Herbert Sobel. He was sadistic towards his company and from what Harry and I heard, he was jumpy in the field. Too eager, not patient, and got people notionally killed in training exercises.

After walking down the line of barracks, and catching more than one lingering glance from the soldiers, Harry and I found the officers barracks. We walked inside and were met with two lieutenants.

Richard Winters was tall, lyth, pale, and had the brightest shock of red hair I had ever seen. His eyes were a soft blue and he held himself properly. Like he was important, but not stuck up. He looked over at us and I gave him a soft smile from behind Harry.

Lewis Nixon was behind him. His hair was thick, black, and styled perfectly. There wasn’t a single thread out of place on his uniform and he gave us a sly smile.

“Are we interrupting?” Harry asked.

“No, not at all. Lieutenant Lewis Nixon, Lieutenant Harry Welsh and Charlie Finnegan, just in from the 82nd,” Winters introduced.

Harry went to shake Nixon’s hand and I followed suit behind him.

“A WAC?” Nixon asked.

“Not a day in my life,” I smiled cheekily.

“Alright then. Well you’ll learn him pretty quickly,” Nixon said, smiling at Winters. “No flaws, no vices, no sense of humor.”

I smiled and looked at Winters who gave me a quick side look and smirked, “Just like your chums up at Battalion Staff?”

“So what’s up?” Winters asked.

I sighed heavily and scratched the back of my neck, “We’ve been hearing a lot of rumblings…”

“Sobel?” Nixon asked.

Harry nodded.

“We were just talking about that,” Nixon said.

The four of us moved closer together so as not to be overheard.

“He gets a little jumpy in the field?” Harry asked.

“Yeah, he gets jumpy and you get killed,” Nixon said.

“Oh, that’s nice,” I chuckled.

“I think if we talk about it, it should just be amongst ourselves,” Winters interjected.

“Alright, absolutely,” Harry said.

From behind us, I heard a heavy foot slam on the wooden step of the barracks. As if in slow motion, I watched Winters turn and snap to attention. Harry and I turned around fast and snapped to attention too. Standing in the doorway was Captain Sobel.

He stood there for an agonizing moment, just staring at all of us, like he knew we were talking about him. His eyes continued to linger on me when he started talking.

“Second Platoon ready?” he asked.

“Ready, Sir,” Winters said.

“Then get them ready, we’re moving out,” Sobel ordered.

“Yes, Sir,” Winters said.

Harry moved first, walking quickly past Sobel who didn’t move from the doorway, Winters followed, and I moved after Winters. Sobel shifted towards the open space so I had to turn more sideways to get out of the door. I felt his eyes burning into me and cleared my throat when I was outside. I glanced back while following Winters and caught Nixon’s eye. He winked at me and gave me a soft smile but quickly lost it when Sobel turned back to him.

“Finnegan, make sure your men are good to go,” Winters said.

“Yes, Sir!”

“Sergeant Lipton!” I called out as I saw the man walking by the cattle trucks.

“Yes, Ma’am?” he asked as I jogged up to him.

“Everyone is good? We’re about to roll out,” I told him.

Staff Sergeant Carwood Lipton was a nice guy. He had been kind to me since I first addressed their platoon and I assume he made the men keep their comments about a female platoon leader at bay. I wasn’t particularly popular at the moment, due to the fact that I had boobs. I didn’t blame them, I had to prove myself to them as a leader. That I could do everything they could do as a female.

“Yes, Ma’am. We’re supposed to be loading the train by platoon but, well, you know how it goes,” I smiled.

“Of course. Just try to keep them in line as much as you can. Captain Sobel is walking around,” I smiled back.

“Yes, Ma’am.”

I watched him walk off and I started in my own direction, but slowed down next to a group of men who were sitting in a small circle.

“Who? Sobel?” I heard Joe Liebgott ask. “He screwed up one manuever.”

“Yeah,” Cobb said.

“Well, you know I’m always fumbling with grenades. It would be easy if one went off by accident you know,” Liebgott said, smirking darkly.

“Well, now they must have put him in charge for a reason,” Shifty Powers said.

I smiled at his innocence.

“Yeah, cause the army wouldn’t make a mistake like that, right Shift?” Liebgott asked.

The group chuckled and I cleared my throat, standing behind Joe Toye with my hands in my pockets. Their heads snapped up to look at me.

“Now gentlemen, I do believe if you’re gonna say things like that? Maybe you shouldn’t do it out in the open. The Good Captain is out and about,” I said the last part sarcastically and smirked.

They all looked back at each other. I could tell that they were embarrassed to have been caught. I gave them a quick, “Just be careful” and walked off.

The train was uncomfortable. I sat next to Winters at an angle that had my head against the window and my feet on the other side of Harry who had his feet half on my lap and half on the seat between me and the wall.

“How’s your time in Easy going?” Winters asked me quietly so as not to wake up Harry.

“Well, it’s certainly not Easy,” I giggled. “It’s just gonna take the men some time to get used to taking orders from a girl. It was an issue for a short amount of time at the old unit too. I’m not too worried about it.”

“How did you get them to respect you?” Winters asked, putting his letter down and giving me his full attention.

“It was a training jump that went bad. I had dropped close to the injured soldier. He was screaming and screaming and screaming. It’s a sound that doesn’t quiet leave you. Anyway, he had landed wrong and broken both of his legs. I did my best to splint both of them with what I had and carried him to the rendezvous point.”

“You carried a broken soldier, both of you in full pack, four miles?” Winters asked, a look of amazement on his face.

“Ah, don’t give me that much credit. I dropped our parachutes and most of the gear we were carrying. Just our packs and weapons went with.”

It looked like he was about to say something else, but Nixon came up behind us.

“Goin my way?” he asked Winters.

“Wherever the train takes me,” Winters answered.

“Yeah, c’mon, take a guess! Atlantic? Pacific? Atlantic?”

“I think Nixon is saying without saying we’re going to the Atlantic,” I smirked.

“Well, we aren’t intelligence officers,” Winters said.

“Mmm, as such, I know, of course,” Nixon said, smiling.

He moved from his seat behind Winters to the seat next to Harry. I crossed my arms and watched him. He looked like the cat who caught the canary. A wide, mischievous grin on his face, and a spark in his eyes.

“If I told ya, I’d have to kill ya,” he said quietly.

“Then don’t tell us,” Winters said.

Nixon leaned in close and smiled again, “New York, troop ship, England. We’re invading Europe my friends.” Nixon pulled a flask from his back pocket and raised it in a toast style. “Fortress Europa!”

Nixon offered the flask to Winters who raised an eyebrow at him, “Since when do I drink?” he asked.

“If I knew you’d take it, I wouldn’t have offered,” Nixon smirked. “You?”

He offered me the flask and I shook my head no.

“Two non-alcoholic officers? That’s not good karma,” Nixon said.

“Hah, it’s not that I don’t drink, I just prefer mine mixed in soda, or in the fermented fruit variety,” I laughed.

“Uh-huh,” Nixon said, taking a pull from the flask.

“Nix?” Winters asked. “What are you gonna do when you get into combat?”

“Oh, I have every confidence in my scrounging abilities,” Nixon said, looking out the window. “And I have a case of Vat 69 in your footlocker.”

Nixon leaned back and laughed. Winters smiled for a minute and then it fell from his face when Nixon didn’t say anything to counter what he had said.

“Really?”

“Oh yeah.”

Before Winters could say anything, Harry popped his head up from the seat and looked at the three of us. He had one eye closed and the other squinted, barely coming to.

“Morning!” Nixon said, handing Harry the flask.

“Mm, ya’know, this could turn into a real nice trip,” Harry said, drinking from the metal container.

I scoffed a little bit and shook my head. It was going to be interesting to say the least.

#band of brothers #hbo war #richard winters #dick winters #dick winters x reader #winters x reader #richard winters x reader #richard winters imagine #winters fic #richard winters fic #band of brothers fic #hbo war fic #airborne all the way #101st airborne #army #world war II

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