#but pete was writing about death as something to let go of | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sunderlust · 2 years

Text

won't you keep lettin' me love you for a long time (rooster)

masterlist

pairing: rooster x f!reader

synopsis: you drive rooster home after one too many margaritas

warnings: fluff, smidge of angst (mentions of grief, death, bradley losing his parents)

wc: ~2k

note: a wise person - aka may - once told me to never scrap your writing, even if you’ll never use it again. I was gonna backspace the first draft of this - actually wrote it for another angsty Jake what’s new - but then rooster inspiration struck (roospiration, if you will) (actually don’t that just looks like perspiration) (I mean I’d love to have rooster’s sweat- nvm)

sorry long ramble aside here’s something short and sweet after my last angsty fic 💕

“You’re way too good of a friend to me,” Rooster grins sloppily as he slumps over the bartop in front of you. Honestly, he’s pretty lucky they had just wiped down the counter. At any other moment, it’d be sticky with beer and sweet and sour and he’d run the risk of getting a pistachio shell stuck to his mustache.

“Yeah, perhaps I am,” you half-seriously agree with a smile and slide a full glass of ice water towards him, then lean back in your own chair to observe a drunk Rooster trying to manage a few gulps while smiling like a goober at the colorful liquor bottles lined up on the shelf.

The bar’s been long empty, most aviators having taken their leave thirty minutes after the last call. Bradley usually heads out earlier than this - doesn’t like staying out late and messing up his perfectly curated bedtime routine. But tonight was a reunion of sorts with his old classmates, and they went through quite a few margaritas.

You joined about an hour ago, and Bradley immediately elected to sit with you and engage in wonderfully mindless chit-chat. You’re not complaining at all - every moment you can spend with the gorgeous aviator is a moment to cherish. Plus, it doesn’t hurt to get all the gossip on his current students at TOPGUN - like the three that are involved in a devastating love triangle that’s most definitely exacerbated by Bradley always grouping them - a move he most certainly took out of Pete Mitchell’s book (“They need to focus on the job, not distract themselves with high school theatrics,” he ranted to you earlier).

“Hold on, wait,” Bradley suddenly says, then springs himself upright and focuses hard on you. “If I squint just right...” he screws up his face, almost going cross-eyed. “I can see two of you!” Bradley’s mustache quirks with his smile, and his entire face lights up like the sun. “Goddamn. What a sight.”

“You’re hammered,” you scoff in an attempt to conceal how much the term of endearment affects you, how it makes your entire body feel warm and tingly because you secretly love it when he’s this open and brazen with you, tossing out flirtatious remarks with no hidden agenda besides trying to put a smile on your face.

“I’m not hammered - they call me Rooster,” he replies breezily and you swat at his shoulder, turning away to hide your smile and raising your other hand to flag someone down to close out Bradley’s tab.

After handing over your card (despite Bradley’s drunken attempts to sway the bartender against letting you pay) - you finally stand up. “Need a lift back home?” you ask him with a teasing lilt to your voice. It’s a rhetorical question - he’s got no other way home besides an overpriced Uber - but he still hums thoughtfully. Slowly, he lifts his head and surveys you while drumming his fingers on the wood.

“I.... think that would be best,” he declares, determinedly slapping the counter and attempting to slide off the barstool in a suave manner - it looks more like Bambi on ice, but you can’t deny that it’s still incredibly endearing. He looks up to flash a brilliant, a bit lopsided smile at you. “I’ll see if ‘Nix can pick me up early to grab my car in the morning.”

You laugh, slide your purse off from the back of the chair, and think to yourself about how he’ll have to find out for himself tomorrow that he didn’t even drive here.

Your car rolls to a stop right outside a quaint, one-story bungalow, and you shift into park before unlocking the door and sitting patiently. Bradley’s quiet - as he’d been the entire ride home - and you chance a brief look at him. He’s sitting up, now looking straight back at you with an unreadable expression on his face. Evidently, there are one too many thoughts running around in his tequila-addled brain.

“You okay?” you ask him, eyes seeking out his in the darkness of one AM.

A few seconds of silence roll by, each ticking louder with your beating heart. “Yeah,” he breathes out. “Think I may have had a bit too much.”

“I’ll say,” you snort. “You didn’t even say anything when someone queued up Foghat earlier.”

“Fuck Foghat,” Bradley groans out and leans back against the headrest. “And fuck Jake for ruining a perfectly decent song.”

You hum reassuringly and eye his dark figure carefully, watch the shadow of his chest rise and fall steadily, and find yourself matching his breathing. “You sure you’re alright?”

His head lolls to the side as he appraises you. Finally, he lets out a long sigh. “Yeah, I just...” he trails off, fingers tapping mindlessly on the console. “You’re my best friend,” he says at last. “And you’re so... good”

Bradley shifts into the tiniest sliver of light, eyes glinting with the reflection of the street lamp glowing outside. You hold your breath, not sure if he can even see you or what he means by it, or what will come out of his mouth. “You’re so kind and good to everyone. Even me. And I don’t deserve it. Don’t deserve you,” he says with so much sincerity your heart breaks at him thinking that he’s not deserving of benevolence, friendship, or even love.

You open your mouth to object, to reassure him that it’s very much the opposite, but he beats you to it with words that make your heart bounce around wildly in your chest, yearning to jump right out and press up against his. “I wish my mom and dad got to meet you.”

It punches all the air out of you, and you just sit and look at him solemnly, somehow at a loss for words.

Bradley has carried grief with him since he was four years old. One day, he’s learning about all the different species of dinosaurs from a book his uncle had gifted him, and the next day, he finds out that his dad won’t be coming home, and he’s discovered something new - a little thing called loss. And years later, loss greets him once again with a bittersweet kiss on both cheeks as it tears away his loving mother and his traitorous Uncle Pete. And for some time, it’s just Bradley and his grief, the dynamic duo, a force to be reckoned with as he swears to uphold his father’s legacy, to make Carole and Goose proud (even Maverick, on a subatomic level).

You know some time back, he figured out why Mav pulled his papers - to appease Carole, sweet Carole, who didn’t want her son to see the same fate as Goose. You know Bradley wonders if his parents would be disappointed in him for still following his dreams. The worst part about losing his parents is that he’ll never know how they’d feel about the man he’s become. It’s especially easy for him to believe he hasn’t done enough.

“Bradley,“ you start, throat closing up as your mind races, as you search for the right sequence of reassuring words. “I think you deserve the world.”

You think back to the early days of getting to know him - shortly after you’d moved to San Diego and found him in some dive bar near the ocean. You remember coming back to the bar with your coworkers on Thursday nights, wistfully sending glances his way across the room and trying to muster up the courage to talk to him, ask him to hang back for a drink, ask him if he likes pancakes or waffles in the mornings because you want to know what to make for him after rocking his world (that last sentiment may have been heavily gin-fueled). It was a simple crush at first.

You recall the day he slid up next to you, bought your next drink, and asked you to join him for a round of darts (which you failed miserably at - somehow it’s much harder in real life than GamePigeon). You remember the laughter, the neverending conversation, the comforting feeling of having a new friend. A great friend - one who always lends a listening ear, makes you laugh until your stomach hurts, who brought you his mom’s famous tomato soup when you got the flu.

Phoenix says he’s usually stuck in his head and thinks too much - but in the time you’ve known him, he’s never spared a second thought when it comes to you.

In a rush, you return to the present, where he’s sitting in front of you with glistening eyes and a drunk mouth speaking words you know cross his sober mind every day. His face is crumbling with emotions that he usually keeps under lock and key because he can’t let it get in the way of his job, can’t let it mess him up when he’s flying or teaching. For whatever reason, this is the side of him that he only feels comfortable enough to show you.

Slowly, you reach over the console to interlace your fingers together and pull his hand up to your mouth to press a sweet kiss to the back of it. He squeezes once. “You know that they’re always here,” you tell him. “Every part of them that they’ve given up has made you the wonderful man you are now. In that way, you always have them with you. And they’d be so damn proud of you. I wish I had the chance to meet them, but I know they’d agree.”

He’s nodding his head with your words as if he’s shaking them around his mind in an attempt to instill their meaning. “And...” You press another kiss to the back of his hand. “I’d say you’re my best friend, too,” you say, whispering mock-conspiratorially.

The grin that slides over his face makes butterflies erupt in your stomach, flying around wildly, completely shredding your intestines but that’s a problem for later because right now Bradley, who has to be the love of your life, is smiling like he just won the lottery, like he’s the luckiest man in the world. Suddenly he’s leaning in, reaching a hand out to brush a piece of loose hair behind your ear and then cup your cheek lovingly, and he’s kissing you like you’re the air he breathes.

You return with fervor; his mustache scrapes roughly against your nose and you can still taste the cheap sour marg mix on his tongue and you can definitely sense how drunk he is by the lack of coordination he exhibits every time your teeth clash together. But it’s real and raw and beautiful all at once, and he’s kissing you like he did the first time all those years ago, as he did on the beach when you said yes to forever, as he did months ago after you exchanged I do’s in a small but beautiful ceremony.

You’ll always prefer messy kisses over anything else, and you’ll always love Bradley with his grief wholly and unconditionally.

Bradley, now seeming to be the slightest bit soberer, breathes in deeply, pulls back slightly, slowly grazes your cheekbone with his thumb as he tries to look at you in the darkness of what must be one-fifteen now. “Thanks,” he says genuinely. Doubt is still festering its prickly self inside him, but he’s grounded now and is comfortably tethered to you.

“Always,” you promise to your best friend, to your partner, to your husband, then surge forward to press another kiss to his lips before moving to unbuckle his seatbelt. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” he replies ardently and pulls you in to kiss your forehead, then turns to fumble for the car handle. He pauses and lowers his head to look out the window where his Bronco is parked right next to yours. “Hold up - I didn’t drive tonight?”

You stifle a laugh and grab your bag from the back seat. “Think your age is showing, honey.”

Bradley squawks out in indignation and stutters through a couple of rebuttals before sighing and burying his face in his hands. “I hate this. Why did you let me drink this much?”

“I showed up later, babe,” you tell him. “Think you can blame Jake for the margs.”

Another groan sounds out from him. “Of fucking course it’s Jake’s fault.”

With a little bit of coordinated effort, the two of you manage to walk (stumble, in Bradley’s case) up the stone pathway leading to the front porch, unlock the door, and step into your shared home together. And later that night, you lay down next to a softly snoring Bradley, think about all the moments that brought you to him, and drift away on the feeling of utter devotion.

#rooster x reader #bradley bradshaw x reader #rooster one shot #rooster imagine #tgm fic #sol writes

2K notes · View notes

lovelytsunoda · 4 months

Text

tell me something girl (are you happy in this modern world) // tom “iceman” kazansky

summary: after thirty years of marriage, heather kazansky reflects on the time she spent and the love she shared with tom as she prepares to write her eulogy and say goodbye to her husband.

pairing: tom kazansky x wife!oc (named heather)

warnings: canon character death (Tom) and mentions of gooses death from the original movie, depictions of grief, mentions of mental health and medication,

authors note: this is the fic I firmly believe I was put on this earth to write. I wanted to do so much more with it, but honestly would have ended up with like 16k words or something like that.

April 2022, Miramar, California.

“is that the admirals wife?”

“jake, shut the fuck up.”

heather kazasnky had never thought of herself as an impressive woman. she always found herself timid, shy and a little anxious. it wasn’t until the first offshoots of gray started to sprout in her hair, and she’d watched all three of her children grow up that she truly thought sh had done something impressive with her life.

she sat alone at a table in the corner of the hard deck, oblivious to the wandering eyes of her husbands trainees as her slender fingers navigated the keyboard of her MacBook.

“heather?”

she started at the voice, cheeks marred with the flush of someone who had just been sobbing as she turned to look at the speaker.

“peter,” she hummed. “it’s good to see you, maverick.”

heather got to her feet, pulling the other pilot in for a tight hug. “nice to see you too, heather. how are you doing.”

“the best I can. the kids are supposed to be coming up tonight to help with the funerals.”

there were always going to be two funerals. the first was the formal military funeral, where her husband would be buried in the same cemetery as nick bradshaw, and the other was more like a reception, something more human and less structured. for the people who knew him not as admiral kazansky, but as tom.

“I miss him, mav. the house feels strange without him in it. I’ve spent so long being heather kazansky, I don’t know how to go back to being just heather.”

maverick shook his head, taking a seat next to her. “you’re still you, heather. you’re still a mother to three incredible kids, and grandmother to two.”

“with another on the way.” she coughed, somehow managing a smile. “joshua’s new girlfriend is expecting. he told tom before he died.”

“congratulations, heather. how are the kids doing?”

“as well as can be expected. as usual, mitchell is the glue holding us together. cassie’s a wreck. she always was her father’s daughter. and for it to happen so soon after she had jamie just seems cruel. tom was going to retire, did you know that? he was ready to put his papers in, we were going to go to greece. it was finally us time again. he gave so much of himself to this country, and I was so excited to finally have him back.”

pete rested a hand on heathers shoulder, squeezing it through the fur of her cardigan. she was strong despite her age, still well built and sturdy, face marred with laugh lines but not a single telltale old woman wrinkle. “I’m so sorry, heather.”

“thank you.”

she turned back to her laptop, showing the other pilot what she was doing. “I’m gathering pictures for the reception. but most of them are of me. tom always had his fucking camera with him. I should have let the kids do this part. all I’m doing is making myself cry.”

she cast her eyes back to her laptop screen, resisting the urge to reach out and run her finger over the photo, soaking in the good memories as they came flooding back. in the picture, she and tom stood on one side of the kitchen counter, laughing with each other as they cut gingerbread cookies.

it had been their first christmas together.

“oh my god,” maverick laughed. “is that iceman in a cable knit?”

“he was so nervous about meeting my dad for the first time. I had to talk him out of wearing his dress whites.”

December 1985, Richmond, Virginia.

they had been together for six months, give or take the few weeks his team had spent deployed in the gulf, and nothing had intimidated tom kazansky more than meeting his girlfriends father. he had wanted to wear his navy dress whites in an attempt to make a good impression before heather had laughed and made him change into jeans and a sweater before they left the apartment.

even then, he had changed sweaters four times before setting on the white cable knit he was currently wearing.

iceman knew how stressed his girl got during the holidays. her family could bring out the worst in her, and they were both highly strung when they walked in the door.

now, she was off to the side with her sister, cradling a mug of hot coco in her hands as she watched him with a smile, chuckling as he dropped a cup of flour down the front of his jeans.

“you really like him, don’t you?”

heather looked back at her sister, who raised her eyebrows as she took a sip of her hot chocolate.

“I do. I really do, abigail. he makes me feel like I’m worth loving, if that makes sense. everything with tom is just so…easy.”

abigail frowned. “he’s a lieutenant, isn’t he? that means he’s going to be deployed a lot. are you sure you can handle that?”

heather sighed, taking a sip of her drink. “we’re trying. he was out in the gulf for a few weeks in september, and we got through it.”

“he’s barely taken his eyes off you since you got here. and when he looks at you, I don’t see anything other than pure, unfiltered love. I bet he’s got a polaroid of you in his cockpit.”

heather laughed, a warm and giddy feeling in her chest. it was clear how much her family loved iceman, and how quickly they were welcoming him into the fold.

“you know I’m losing him for two months in the new year. he’s off to california, got into some fancy fighter jet training program.”

“you can still go see him, right?”

“yeah, I’ve got a few vacation days saved u- oh fuck.” heather cursed, thrusting her mug into abigail’s arms as she saw what her boyfriend was doing. “give me one second, I’ve gotta stop him from screwing up the gingerbread.”

she pushed up the sleeves of her jacquard sweater, socks skidding across the kitchen tiles as she loosely knotted her hair behind her head.

“kaz, sweetie, give me the rolling pin. you’ve gotta knead the dough.” she smiles softly, putting herself between the pilot and the counter.

one of tom’s flour coated hands came to rest as her waist, his chin on the top of her head as she watched her dip her hands into the bowl of flour, and proceed to knead the gingerbread dough by hand. her lovers hands came to rest over hers, his lips soft and warm against her skin as they kneaded the gingerbread dough together.

“see, you don’t always know everything, lieutenant.” she hummed giddily, running her thumb over his wrist.

“yeah, but I know I love you, and that’s all I need.” Tom laughed, gently using his finger to guide her head towards his and placing a soft kiss on her lips.

April 2022, Miramar, California.

heather paused, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. "i loved that man so much, pete."

the hard deck was getting busier, off-duty pilots and seamen flooding in from the base at miramar as shifts changed for the day. heather knew all about the dagger squad and the hazy series of events that brought pete mitchell back to the academy, often having to speak for her husband in meetings once his first cancer operation had left him unable to speak for himself.

"auntie heather!" a familiar face looked over from the pool table. bradley bradshaw was a spitting image of his father, right down to the way that his moustache was trimmed.

for heather, it sometimes felt like seeing a ghost.

"brad!" she perked up, waving him over to the table. "how are you?"

when she first came to visit her husband at miramar, somethign about carole bradshaw had pulled heather in. she hadn't known the bradshaw's long, but by the time that goose's accident happened, she felt like she had known that family her whole life.

she did what she could to help carole out afterwards, especially when it came to raising bradley, but as rooster got older and time flew by, it was so easy for carole and heather to fall out of touch.

"you look just like your dad." she hummed, hugging the pilot. "it's like seeing nick again."

bradley nodded solemnly. "i was sorry to hear about admiral kazansky."

"thank you. it had been a long time coming, but there's no way to properly prepare to lose the man you love."

rooster gestures to the group behind him, the mismatched group of people coming to meet him at the table. “aunt heather, I’d like you to meet the dagger squad: jake, natasha, robert, reuben and javy. we knew the admiral well.”

“hi.” heather said weakly, introducing herself. “I’m heather, the admirals wife. or, widow, I guess. I’m still not used to saying that.”

“are you getting ready for the funeral?” jake asked, promptly getting jabbed in the rib cage by natasha.

“what hangman means to say is: we all respected your husband very much, and we would be honoured to help you plan his memorial service.” phoenix corrected, taking heathers hand between both of her own.

“thank you for the offer, natasha.” heather smiled. “bradley, I want to show you something.”

she sat back in front of her laptop, using the touchscreen to pull up a video taken the first summer she came to visit miramar. she had timed the visit to coincide with her birthday, a small selfish part of her unable to fathom spending her birthday without tom.

bradley pulled up a chair next to the table, watching as the screen crackled to life, the date stamp in the corner reading june of 1986. they were inside the o bar, the video opening with heather resting her head on tom’s shoulder, then panning over to the massive birthday cake and sparklers set in front of her. carole bradshaw sat on one side of her, and charlie blackwood was at the head of the table, sitting next to maverick.

“is that my mom?” Bradley smiled fondly. “she looks so full of life.”

“she was.” heather laughed. “and you might remember charlie, she was one of mavericks many lovers.”

“hey!” pete scoffed. “things just didn’t work out.”

“she was always too good for you, pete.” heather laughed, pointing to another space on the screen. the group was singing happy birthday, supported by a rockabilly piano backing track. “bradley, there’s your dad.”

goose was sitting in front of the grand piano, a toothpick hanging between his teeth as he hammered away at the ivory keys, aviator glasses over his eyes.

“happy birthday dear heather, happy birthday to you.”

the camera panned back to heather and tom as she blew out the cake candles. tom pulled her in to a soft kiss while the rest of the table cheered, and then the video cut to black.

“mitchell has been digitizing all of this stuff for us. I caught tom watching our wedding videos before he died.”

“remember when slider and wolfman got absolutely shitfaced at your wedding and tripped down the reception stairs?” maverick laughed to himself “did anybody ever get that on video?”

heather shook her head, a bright smile on her tear stained face as she hunted through the original wedding folder. “I’ve got you one better.”

September 1987, Monterrey, California.

mrs. heather kazansky. she could get used to that.

she was sitting with her sister and tom’s parents, the former two who were conversing with each other in polish. she twirled her wedding band on her finger, face flushed and spirits high as she looked on at her husband.

tom was with maverick and slider, the group of aviators dressed in their best white uniforms, beer bottles lifted high as they drunkenly hollered the words to an old rod stewart song.

“and I know your name is rita, because your perfume smells sweeter.”

abigail was filming, zooming the camera lens in on heather as she asked: “are you sure you don’t wanna back out now? till death do you part, you’re bound to this dumbass now.”

heather laughed, playfully smacking at the camera. “yes, I’m sure!”

“stay with me, come on stay with me!”

sliders voice was three decibels louder than everybody else, and he was also significantly drunker. one of the bridesmaids had her eyes on him, and there wasn’t a doubt in anybody’s mind that ron kerner would have somebody in his bed that night.

iceman’s face was flushed, his arm thrown around maverick as they rocked on their feet, skin sweaty and hair mussed.

but in the midst of all this chaos, he still managed to look over at his new wife, blowing her the softest kiss. she smiled, catching the kiss in her hands and pressing it to her heart, a moment her sister was able to capture frame for frame on digital video.

tom had watched the video hundreds of times as he sat alone in his office, struggling to come to terms with the fact that he’d be leaving not just the love of his life, but his three beautiful children as well.

April 2022. Miramar, California.

“that’s the kind of love that people only dream about.” natasha smiled softly. “you’re lucky you got to spend as much time with him as you did. most couples don’t make it as long as you guys did.”

heather smiled shakily, reaching for her drink. she’d left the sprite so long that the ice had half melted, condensation dripping down the glass.

“he was so good with the kids, you know. I was on and off depressed for a while after joshua was born. my mental health had never been perfect and I was on a low dose anti-anxiety medication for a long time. but after Josh was born, everything just got so much harder and I could barley get out of bed in the mornings. tom would take the kids to school, make their lunches. he was teaching full time at top gun by then, so he took a few days off to stay with me, make me feel like myself again.”

“he was a good man.” robert smiled, rubbing her shoulder.

“yeah, he was.” heather bit her bottom lip, pulling a photo up on her laptop that had the dagger squad letting out a chorus of ‘awe’s’

the picture was taken in 1989. tom was dressed in a gray waffle knit shirt, a pair of pit viper sunglasses on his forehead as he held a smiling baby in his arms. mitchell’s wide eyes looked up at his dad, his tiny fingers wrapped around in of tom’s larger ones.

his name was mitchell ronald kazansky, because tom had made a lame bet with maverick and slider (that he lost) and had to name his firstborn after both of them (because he was a fucking idiot at times, but she loved him anyways).

the boys were both easy children, but cassandra? she was a daddy’s girl through and through, and tom would have moved heaven and earth for his little girl. whatever cassie wanted, she often got, well into adulthood even. she was the spitting image of her father, from her honey blonde hair right down to the birthmark on the underside of her jaw.

when tom walked her down the aisle at her wedding three years ago, he cried all the way to the altar. but not half as much as he sobbed when he held his granddaughter for the first time, cancer-stricken and barely able to speak, but still brimming with joy as he held jamie to his chest.

“he lead a good life. one he was proud of. he used his last words to tell me as much.” heather choked out, overwhelmed by emotions. “I just wish we’d had more time.”

pete placed his hand over hers, squeezing it reassuringly as natasha rubbed her back, and rooster gently squeezed her shoulder.

there was still so much love that heather kazansky still had to give.

still so much love that she was surrounded by.

and maybe that was tom’s way, even from the grave, to tell her that everything would still be alright.

TAGS:

@magnummagnussen @libraryofloveletters @httpiastri @sidcrosbyspuck @twinkodium @sidcrosbyspuck @oconso @thatsdemko @lorarri

#top gun x reader #top gun imagine #tom iceman kazansky x reader #tom kazansky x reader #top gun fanfic #tom kazansky #tom iceman kazansky imagine #top gun (1986)#top gun fanfiction #iceman x reader

147 notes · View notes

justabigassnerd · 2 years

Text

Safe and Sound

Pairing - Bradley 'Rooster' Bradshaw x Mitchell!reader

Word count - 2,151

Warnings - mentions of death, angst, fluff

Summary - On the uranium mission, two of the people you care most about get shot down

A/N - I had to I'm sorry. I'm on a Rooster kick and I had to write for him. For the sake of this fic, Hangman has a WSO because I said so and reader's callsign is Pegasus. This is probably actual horse shite bc I've never written Top Gun before but you won't learn anything by not doing it so I gave it a go. Anyways, as per y'all, please send in requests, feedback and enjoy!!

This mission was one no one at Top Gun could stop talking about. Your father, Pete Mitchell, better known as Maverick, had to whittle down a group of twenty of the top graduates from Top Gun down to six. You made him promise to be fair and not just pick you because you were his daughter because the moment you knew you were the WSO for Jake Seresin, you knew you stood no chance. Hangman was a good pilot. A great pilot even. He just had an ego to match your father’s and would leave his wingmen out to dry at any given opportunity.

Your boyfriend, Bradley Bradshaw, had tried to convince you that there was no way your dad wouldn’t pick you. He would constantly praise how you were one of the only teams to make it through the trial run and land the closest hit to the target. Every time he reminded you of that, you just reminded him that the second after that steep climb, Hangman flew off, which would mean leaving your wingman to get blown to smithereens by SAMs in the actual mission. Rooster thought it was unfair, that the daughter of Maverick was stuck as a WSO, but you kept reassuring him that it was your choice. You enjoyed flying but you got nervous sometimes if you were the one piloting the aircraft, so you left it to those who were more comfortable.

When it came time for the mission to be carried out, all candidates were waiting anxiously on the aircraft carrier to find out who Maverick had chosen to fly alongside him in the mission. When Cyclone asked for who would be joining him on the mission he surveyed the pilots, knowing each one of them have trained so hard for this moment.

“Payback and Fanboy. Phoenix and Bob.” He announces the Foxtrot teams first, you watch as the four relax and share a smile with their friend. You heard Hangman release a small huff of annoyance, but you ignored him, knowing you’ll get your chance in due time.

“And your wingman.” Cyclone prompts. You cast a glance across the room at Rooster and could see how nervous he was. You knew him and your dad had a rocky history since your dad pulled Bradley’s papers at the naval academy, so you hoped your dad wasn’t going to pick someone else.

“Rooster.” Maverick says, making Bradley straighten up and nod slightly. Maverick then announces that you and Hangman are the standbys in case something goes wrong on the mission. The teams head up to the carrier’s runway and you approach your dad.

“You better not do anything stupid out there.” You say in a weak attempt to be funny, but you couldn’t deny the nerves that were eating away at your stomach because your dad and your boyfriend were risking their lives.

“We’ll be there and back in record time. I’ll bring that boyfriend of yours back safe and sound too.” Maverick replies with a reassuring smile as he brings you into a tight hug before turning to get into his jet. You then turned around to find Bradley and saw Hangman walking away from him, throwing you a smile as he passed.

“You okay?” Bradley asks gently as he rests his hands on your hips, his eyes watching you carefully.

“You better come back alive, Bradshaw.” You say, watching as the corners of his mouth twitch up into a smile.

“Wow, demoted to last name basis?” He manages to joke, making you roll your eyes.

“I’m serious Bradley. You better come home.” You repeat, making Bradley let go of your hips and cup your face gently in his hands.

“I’m going to do my damn hardest to get home to you.“ He says, rubbing his thumbs across the apple of your cheeks, bringing a smile to your face as you lean into his touch.

“I love you.” You say, both you and Bradley leaning in for a kiss.

“I love you too.” He whispers. Just before you could reply, you hear Fanboy yelling for Rooster to get in his jet and you take a step back.

“I better get going. I’ll be back before you know it.” Bradley says, pressing one last quick kiss to your lips before hurrying over to his jet and climbing into the cockpit, blowing you a kiss before you turn to get into the jet with Hangman. You watch as the four jets take off and fly in the direction of the uranium plant.

“And now we wait.” Hangman says, leaning back in his seat and throwing a glance over his shoulder at you.

“Hopefully we don’t have to do anything.” You reply, watching as the F-18’s quickly become specks in the distance before the missile strike is sent from the carrier to destroy the enemy aircraft’s runway. You could hear what was happening over the radio and you listened intently to what was going on.

“Come on babe.” You whisper to yourself when you hear that Rooster needs to speed up as him and his wingmen are behind schedule. You knew he had a cautious approach to flying and you pegged it to be because he lost his father when he was young and didn’t want to meet the same fate as Goose. Your dad had always told you ‘don’t think, just do’; at that moment, you knew Rooster needed to take your dad’s advice, whether he liked it or not. You and Hangman cheer happily when you hear two confirmed hits, and that the uranium plant is destroyed.

“Now they just have to make it back.” Hangman says with a smile, turning back to you. Both of you are filled with unwavering optimism that this mission is going to be a success. You both knew that there were SAMs so the teams had to fight to make it back, but you had no doubt that they’d be able to make it home.

“Dagger One has been hit. I repeat: Dagger One has been hit.” That one sentence made your heart plummet into your stomach. You could hear Rooster trying to reach Maverick through the radio but was met with no response. You couldn’t believe it. Your dad, one of the Navy’s best pilots was shot down in the blink of an eye.

“Dagger Spare request permission to launch and fly air cover.” You heard Hangman speaking to the radio tower, wanting to get into the air to help with the bandits being so close to the remainder of the team.

“Negative Spare.” The response angers you. The team needed help, and you couldn’t believe they were making you just stay put. You blink away the tears angrily and listen to what was going on. You could hear everyone being told to come to the carrier while Rooster was fighting the idea, wanting to look for your dad despite no one seeing a parachute. The next thing you knew you heard frantic calls and announcements that Dagger Two had also been hit and people trying to get a response. Your heart was now shattered. First your dad and then Bradley. Two of the people you love most in this world are gone within minutes.

“Pegasus, you okay?” You hear Hangman ask, an unusual softness to his voice. You couldn’t find your voice and remained staring blankly at the back of Hangman’s seat.

“y/n?” Hangman tries again, this time using your name instead of your callsign. You managed to force yourself to react and looked up to where Hangman was looking at you with concern over the top of his seat.

“They’re gone.” You whisper, tears seeping down your cheeks as the other jets land on the carrier, returning to their spots with the pilots climbing out.

“Are you going to be okay if they need us? I can ask someone else to jump in.” Hangman questions, making you shake your head.

“No, I’ll be okay. I just need a second.” You reply quickly, wiping your eyes and steeling your gaze, knowing you need to be strong right now just in case you’re needed. You fought the pit growing in your stomach and tried to stay focused, trying not to think about your dad and your boyfriend lying dead on enemy territory somewhere. You knew that you and Hangman had to be standing by just in case the bandits followed the others back to the carrier.

“Dagger Spare stand by. We have spotted Rooster on our radar in an F-14 and suspect Maverick is with him too.” You hear someone over the radio say and both you and Hangman leap into action, prepping the jet for take-off. Your heart was pounding, threatening to break your ribs, and burst out of your chest from how hard it was beating. They were alive, and you needed to help them get home.

“Dagger Spare standing by. Ready to take off when needed.” You say, flipping the switches to activate your radar while Hangman moves the jet into position to take off. When you’re cleared for take-off, it only takes a matter of seconds for the jet to get airborne.

“Pegasus, keep an eye out for any bandits, okay?” Hangman says and you nod in acknowledgment, glancing at your radar and at your surroundings. You fly in the direction of where the radio tower told you Rooster was coming from. As you travel you spot an F-14 being trailed by another more advanced jet.

“Hangman, that has to be them!” You say, pointing the jets out to him.

“Target the jet.” Hangman orders which you listen to, targeting the enemy jet easily.

“You’re clear to fire.” You say once you’re locked on target and Hangman doesn’t waste a second firing the missile and blowing up the bandit as you connect your radio to the F-14s.

“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. This is your saviour speaking. Please fasten your seatbelts, return your tray tables to their locked and upright positions. And prepare for landing.” You roll your eyes and laugh at Hangman’s words but couldn’t hold back a sigh of relief as you look over to the other jet and see your dad and boyfriend.

“Hey, Hangman, you look good.” Rooster says.

“I am good Rooster. I’m very good.” Hangman replies with a cocky smile.

“Way to ignore your girlfriend Bradshaw.” You say with a laugh.

“You look amazing, baby. You always do.” Rooster says with a smile.

“Keep your flirting off the channel. We can talk back on the carrier.” Your dad’s teasing tone comes over the radio, bringing a slight blush to your cheeks as you fly back to the carrier. You and Hangman land first just before the crew prepare for your dad to land the F-14 with no front landing gear. You wait and watch anxiously as they land and the second you see them emerge from the cockpit, you’re leaping out of your jet and bolting towards them. You grab your dad in a hug first, hugging him so tight he was convinced you were going to snap him in half.

“It’s okay, sweetheart. I’m here.” He whispers reassuringly, hugging you equally as tight to comfort you. You remain in your dad’s hold for a couple of minutes before Maverick looks up to see Rooster watching with a small smile on his face.

“I believe someone is waiting to say hi to you.” Maverick says with a smile before releasing you from his hug and turning you around, so you were face to face with your boyfriend. You wasted no time in bringing him in for a kiss, it was messy but helped reassure you that he was here in front of you and that he made it home to you.

“You are an idiot, Bradley Bradshaw. You scared me to death. I thought I lost both you and dad.” You say the moment you part for air. You were beyond grateful he made it back with your dad, but you couldn’t help but be a little angry that he went against orders to do it.

“I’m sorry babe. I just had a gut feeling that Mav was still alive and I couldn’t just leave him to die.” Bradley defends himself apologetically, bringing you into his arms and resting his chin atop your head as he runs a gentle hand up and down your back.

“I’m just so glad you both made it home.” You whisper against his shoulder, hugging him slightly tighter as you speak.

“Safe and sound. Just like we promised.” He replies, pressing a kiss to the top of your head as you nod.

“Hey, lovebirds, break it up! Celebratory drinks, let’s go!” You hear Payback yell, making the two of you pull apart but not before pressing another kiss to each other’s lips.

“Shall we?” Bradley asks, offering you his arm.

“We shall.”

#justabigassnerd #justabigassnerd writes #top gun #top gun maverick #rooster top gun #bradley rooster bradshaw #rooster #bradley bradshaw #bradley bradshaw x reader #rooster x reader #bradley 'rooster' bradshaw #bradley 'rooster' bradshaw x reader #bradley bradshaw x mitchell!reader #pete maverick mitchell #maverick x reader #maverick x daughter!reader #pete mitchell x daughter reader

1K notes · View notes

idkwhylou · 1 year

Text

Untouchable pt.1

Summary : One evening at the hard deck your attention is strangely on a quiet pilot who blushes way too much, your friend made fun of you but the evening ends in his bed. Maybe it was not the better option to sleep with a military brat, and even less when it’s the daughter of your superior.

Bob Floyd x militarybrat!reader/f!reader

Warnings : SMUT (a bit cringy sorry)

Words : 7K +

A/N : It’s the very first time I write “smut” (it’s not much but yeah yk) and little reminder that English is not my first language !

pt.2 here :)

»» ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─── ««

You were untouchable.

Already by your personality, you had what could be called a bad temper. You didn’t really let yourself slacken off and even less in front of the men of the Navy whom you knew too well. You were endowed with an astonishing intelligence, you understood things very quickly and quite surprising but some were afraid of this intelligence. You weren't scary at all but the fact that you knew how to think for yourself had the gift of scaring some pilots. You were independent, you didn't need anyone and again, even less a man with an oversized ego like some of them. On top of that you were extremely beautiful, not pretty but very beautiful. Some could qualify you as a femme fatale even if you did not like this term, you defined it as an idea established by the desire of man in women.

You knew very well that you had an advantageous physical and it would be a lie to say that you never took advantage of it to obtain something, of course you never played with a man's feelings. Even if you could sometimes be frank you were far from hurtful. The only thing that could hurt others about you was your beauty but not your personality. Deep down inside, you slightly liked being untouchable, you liked telling yourself that you were in control of the situation. That was a rare thing for a woman in the Navy, but you were one hell of an exception. In addition to being more than special in the eyes of all unfortunately you were even more untouchable than anyone could have thought.

Even if a man had a slim chance with you, there was a whole other problem. You were a military brat but not just any. It turns out that you were the only child of the famous Captain Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell. So even if you looked at a pilot once your head was turned, you could be sure that your father was going to take pleasure in staring intensely at the boy you had just made hope for. It was on one hand reassuring to tell you that your father was vigilant with you and the possible predators, even if in reality the real predator was you. But on the other hand it was more than annoying that he protected you as if you were in porcelain and that you were going to break at any moment. You were stronger than that and you didn't need your father to defend you, far from it.

It is true that you did not have a very stable life due to your father's job, but that never bothered you, it is precisely thanks to his environment that you are as you are today. Being his only child he was always more protective than other parents, he didn't want anything to happen to you. At the time you didn't realize it since you were too young but if your father was so protective it was mainly because you were the last family he had left. After Goose's death it is true that he was not like before but when Carole left in turn, it was too much. He no longer had anyone to rely on, he had completely let himself go and after a one night stand you arrived. You never knew your mother and she never wanted to know you, giving all the responsibility to Pete who was far from ready to be a father.

But the rest is history.

You were back in Miramar and the first thing you thought of was going to the Hard Deck, just to pop in and say hello to Penny, nothing more. You pushed the wooden door in front of you and made your way into the bar, you walked with a determined and confident step towards the bar, trying to make your way through the crowd so that you could then sit on one of the wooden stools in front of you. It was still quite early but the bar was already full to bursting, the crowd was almost suffocating but it wasn't too disturbing yet, you looked straight ahead and observed a few pilots around the pool table. Some faces were familiar which made you smiled gently while thinking about what you were going to take, always observing the bar clientele to see if there were other people you knew by any chances.

You waited a few seconds then Penny turned in your direction with a big smile, she quickly advanced towards you while she was at the other end of the bar. “Sweetie ! What are you doing here ?" She asked surprised at your rather unexpected arrival.

“Penny I can’t breathe.” You tell her out of breath, she moves away from you, laughing slightly but still leaning on the bar to be able to stay close to you, “I wanted to pass by.” You just answered her.

She leaned towards you again and took your face in her hands before placing a kiss on your cheek, she pulls away again before speaking. “Excuse me, I'm just so happy to see you, it's been so long since I've seen you ! It’s been what ? Three years ?” She asked, all excited about your arrival.

“Two years penny, only two. But I missed you too.

“Two years ! Oh my god it's been so long. Tell me what can I serve you ?”

“Uhm one Mai Tai please.”

She nodded before starting to prepare your cocktail, you carefully observed her mixing the ingredients when she poured the mixture into a wide glass which she placed on the bar before adding a slice of lemon and a mint leaf, she pushed the glass in front of you and smiled at you again. You thanked her but when you took out your wallet to take money to pay her, she stopped me dead in your action by putting her hand on your wrist. You raised your head and she nodded hers negatively to make you understand to put away what you had in your hands, “It's not necessary Y/N, gift from the house.” She said, adding a wink before sweeping behind the bar.

“But penny-”

“No but young woman !” She interrupted you, pointing her finger in front of you to make you understand that you shouldn't try to retort again.

You sighed softly in defeat and then put the Wallet in your jacket pocket, which was actually your father's and took a sip of your drink, the fresh lemon juice slid down your throat but was quickly caught by the burning rum. “You’re alone ?” Asked the woman in front of you.

You put down your glass and nodded, “Dad's tired, he's staying home tonight.”

She raised her eyebrows and her cheeks turned slightly rosy at the response, “Oh no, I didn't mean it like that-”

You didn't give her time to finish her sentence when you smiled at her frustrated look and gave her a wink in turn before getting up to approach the jukebox which was not far from the pool table, so not far from the pilots. Once in front of the retro machine, you put your glass on the next table to be able to take a coin out of your pocket which must have been there for a long time, you kept the coin in your hand long enough to carefully read the proposed titles and choose properly. But when you were hesitating between two titles from the 80s, you felt a presence behind you but you didn't really pay attention to it. “Has anyone ever told you that it was dangerous to leave your drink unattended ?”

You jumped not expecting anyone to speak to you even less this close to your ear, you quickly turned around and came face to face with Lt. Bradley 'Rooster' Bradshaw. You opened your mouth amazed to see him there and didn't think another minute before taking him in your arms, you put your arms behind his neck and felt his wrap around your waist to respond to your embrace. You moved away and stared at him for a moment, he hadn't changed since the last time you saw each other. He wore a Hawaiian shirt similar to the ones his father wore before him and still had his famous pair of Ray-bans on his nose, and of course he still had his 70s mustache.

You and Rooster have known each other for years, you grew up together until your father took his papers away. At that time he had pulled away from you thinking that you knew about your father's actions when you were the last to know about the situation but all that is in the past, now all of that is behind you. Despite the recent events between him and your father, you found each other and rediscovered the bond you had when you were younger, Bradley is a few years older than you and he fulfills his role as big brother to perfection. Even if you don't have the same blood it's just like, he has always been like a brother to you and even when he stops talking to you you forgave him directly.

“Oh my God ! You scared me.” You exclaimed.

“What are you doing here ?” He asked you as surprised at my arrival as Penny.

“A craving for Mai Tai.” You say, taking your glass back from the table before taking a big sip.

“You’re pregnant ?” He asked randomly.

You almost spit out all the liquid you had in your mouth after what he just asked you, “What ? No ! Are you crazy ?”

He shrugged and laughed slightly before offering you to join him and his pilot friends, you turned your head to your right to observe the pilots you had seen before. You looked back at Rooster giving him a nod before answering him concretely with a smirk, “How could I refuse ?”

He smiled and started walking towards the pool table where his friends and colleagues were, you followed him closely not for fear of losing him but only so you could easily pass through the crowd. Unlike Rooster you weren't tall and imposing, you were of average height and far from imposing in your physique, it was only your personality that intimidated people.

“Rooster ! I thought you got lost on the way grandpa.” Exclaimed a tall blond pilot with a smirk on his face.

You stared at him for a moment but no names came to mind as you looked at him, nor did you remember Bradley telling you about a blond boy. Even if the man was unknown to you, for the moment, he was one of the first pilots you saw when you entered the bar. He looked confident, even slightly haughty, but he still seemed likeable.

“Bagman.” Bradley gave him a nod, calling him what you thought was his callsign. “What a pleasure to see you.”

The would-be 'Bagman' smiles before glancing at you, “And who is that pretty thing you brought me here ?”

Asshole.

Your smile faded away in a second. Now he seemed anything but friendly, but what he didn't realize was that you were far from easy prey. You didn't even have time to retort that Bradley put his arm around your shoulders before pulling you against him, you frowned and looked up to look at the brunet who resumed speaking as if nothing had happened.

“Not this one Hangman.” He said calling him a new callsign, you assumed the previous one was just a joke.

The blond understood from your lost look that you weren't the pilot's girlfriend next to you, “And why’s that ?” He asked slowly but surely leaning towards you.

And as you were about to answer him, someone cut you off again. “Too dangerous.” Said a female voice that you recognized directly. “The kind of girl where you avoid her dad more than anything if you ask me.”

You freed yourself from Rooster's grip, walked past Hangman, not forgetting to give him a shoulder to end up taking Phoenix in your arms. You pulled away from her and looked the blond straight in the eyes with a playful look, he smiled before asking you a question. “Your dad doesn't like the navy ?”

“Worse. He’s in the navy.” You said with a smirk as the pilot's quickly faded.

“Oh." He said simply as Bradley gently patted his shoulder in comfort.

“I told you ! Now come with me to get you a beer.” The brunet said to him, shaking him slightly so that he regained his senses.

»» ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─── ««

The evening had gone extremely well, to be honest you had stayed more often with Phoenix than with the others but it was good to see her again after so much time. And then being the only two girls in the evening could sometimes be heavy, unfortunately Halo couldn't come because she had a date that night. But despite everything, you had a great time. Also Hangman had come to see you to apologize for the abrupt advances he had made to you, you could see he was afraid of having problems. You forgave him and with that the atmosphere was no longer heavy and awkward between you two, you even offered him a game of pool which he accepted with a big smile of winner but what he did not know was that you were unbeatable.

Several times during the game your eyes landed on a pilot that you had not been introduced to. He was sitting in a corner with peanuts, he had blonde hair but not like Hangman's, it was darker. He wore glasses that slipped on his nose far too often, his eyes seems like a perfect baby blue but you weren't sure because of the distance between you. You stayed focused on your game but many times you couldn't help but look in his direction, he was often alone during the evening but yet was part of the group. You had spotted Rooster talking to him a few times but the one he stayed with the most was Fanboy if you remember correctly. He spoke softly but mostly listened or observed what was going on around him.

At one point your eyes met and you gave him a mischievous smile that he returned more shyly with a smaller smile. Despite his shyness he was handsome, you wanted to know more about him. You had noticed that he did not drink beer but only water or maybe it was vodka but given the pace at which he drank this was far from possible or he tolerated alcohol extremely well which. In your mind you stayed on water and you couldn’t help it and found that adorable. He seemed so kind and caring, you wanted to go talk to him.

“Who is this ?” You asked Phoenix cutting her off in her explanation.

It must have been twenty minutes since you won your game against Hangman and you were now sitting at a table with the female pilot. You couldn't help but ask her who was the mysterious pilot who intrigued you for a while now.

“Who is who ?” She asked with a smile, leaning towards you to avoid everyone hearing.

“The one with the glasses.” You say, pointing your head towards where the blond was, he was still with Fanboy in a corner.

The woman in front of you moved away and turned in the direction you had just pointed to her even though deep down she suspected who you were talking about, there was only one person here who could wear glasses. When her eyes landed on Bob, she couldn't help but giggle softly. She looked at you before speaking. “Lieutenant Robert “Bob” Floyd, my back seater.”

“He’s cute." You confessed, crossing your arms before sinking a little further into your chair.

You were still watching Robert when your friend's laughter cut you off from your thoughts, “What ?” You asked already bored without even knowing why she was laughing.

“I can't believe it, I never would have imagined this possible. You and Bob ?” She said before leaving in an endless giggle.

You sigh annoyed and as she continued to laugh alone, Bradley came closer to you with a beer in his hands. “What’s happening ?” He asked putting his sunglasses in his Hawaiian shirt pocket.

“Y/N- she- Oh my god-” Phoenix tries to start a sentence but without success, she continues to laugh like crazy with both hands on her stomach as she was laughing so hard.

Bradley smiled at her friend's delight before turning back to you with a confused look, “I just told her I thought… Bob was cute.” You hesitantly say the name of the pilot.

No sooner had you finished your sentence than Natasha laughed even harder, “Nat.” Bradley tried to calm her down. “Nat-”

You weren't even waiting for her to calm down to get up and head to the bar without waiting another minute, you didn't understand why your friend had reacted this way. How the idea that you like the dark blond could make him laugh so much. You leaned on the wood of the bar patiently waiting for Penny to come take your order when you felt a presence to your left, you turned your head slightly to avoid the person seeing you staring. And when you thought you'd come face to face with a civilian, to your surprise the person next to you was the mysterious pilot. Suddenly, for the first time, you felt troubled when absolutely nothing had happened. Usually you didn't like to feel intimidated by others and even less by men, but this time you did, you strangely appreciated the fact of not being in your normal state. You didn't ask yourself any more questions and put this new feeling back on the beers you had drunk tonight. Without really thinking you turned completely to face the male next to you, you lean on the bar and wait for him to turn to face you too but he seems too embarrassed. You could see that his cheeks were slightly pink, which gave you a little more confidence to keep going.

“Bob right ?” You asked in a soft and gripping voice, which created a feeling of well being in the boy in front of you before anything happened.

He turned slowly, uncertain and slightly lost. He looked at you for a moment before putting his glasses back on correctly with the help of his middle finger and then nodding, “Y-yes that's me.” He replied in an almost imperceptible voice.

You smile at his shyness before simply continuing, hoping he would open up to you a little more, “Y/N.”

“I know- Well I mean I heard you with the others earlier." He said, recovering quickly at the end as if he had said something he shouldn't have.

This time if your smile turned into a laugh and Bob swore he had never heard such a sweet melody, once again his cheeks turned red but this time if a feeling of warmth added to his condition, and not only at his cheeks.

“I understood, don't worry.” You reassured him by once again giving him a smile with such sweetness that could have killed him.

But when you were going to continue the conversation Penny cut you off in the middle of your exchange to take his order, he ordered a coke zero and surprisingly turned to you again. “And whatever you want.” He said before taking his wallet out of his uniform pocket to pull out some money.

“Oh no-”

“I insist.” He cut you off with a blow much more confident than before.

You shook your head and gave your order to Penny who rushed to prepare them, despite the fact that it was getting late there were still a lot of people at the Hard Deck. Once your two drinks served you did not stay longer at the bar which began to be overflowing with people wanting to order them too. The table you previously occupied with Phoenix was free again, you indicated to the pilot behind you who nodded and followed you. You settled in quickly to avoid other people taking the table, the pilot in front of you took a sip in his glass before placing it on the table between you two. He looked up and was surprised to see you were already looking at him, his cheeks turning red before he looked away and focused on something else.

Cute.

While he was looking away you smiled and took a sip of your beer before playing with the tag, “So,” you began.

You barely had time to say anything else than the blond turned his head quickly towards you. As you were going to resume you let yourself getting lost in his eyes. They were beautiful. So delicate and sparkling. You were right, his eyes were indeed blue, as deep as the ocean.

“You have very pretty eyes.” You said casually as you turned your head to the side.

Once again Robert couldn't help but blush, he lowered his head slightly, shaking it before looking you straight in the eye, "Thank you." He simply added.

“Why did you pay me a drink ?” You asked quickly after his answer, you couldn't help but smile at his frustrated look.

“Oh uhm… I-well I figured that was the least I could do, since-that I didn't take your-your order when it was my uhm my round.” He said stuttering.

You brought your bottle to your lips without drinking from it, you looked at him attentively as you narrowed your eyes. You observed that the more he spoke, the redder he became. To be honest you thought it was extremely sexy while Robert couldn't stand the burning feeling in his chest anymore.

“No. Why did you really buy me a drink Robert-”

"Bob. Please call me Bob.” He corrected, although he honestly didn't mind hearing you call him by his full name.

"Isn't that your call sign ?"

“Is it but also my name, Robert is too formal.” He said with a sweet smile.

You nodded and continued, “Don't change the subject Bob. Why did you buy me a beer ?”

Bob sighed softly knowing full well that he was defeated and that he had to answer you once and for all, "It's just that I-I thought you were pretty and you-you looked nice so I thought that uhm that-” He began, searching for words to avoid scaring you away.

“That I would go home with you ?”

"What ? Nah, nah I had I would not have thought that. I uhm I just wanted to talk- yeah just a little talk.” He continued as if he had just thought about the real reason he had just offered you a drink.

The pilot looked at you attentively, waiting for your answer to know if the evening was going to stop soon for him or if on the contrary it had only just begun.

"Maybe I want to go home with you." You say softly, leaning slightly towards him so that no one could hear.

Bob widened his eyes surprised at what you had just said and opened his mouth slightly but closed it quickly thinking of what to say, you wasted no more time and got up from your chair. Before you start walking, you turn to the man behind you and give him a smirk and a wink before making your way through the crowd to go dancing, which sends shivers down his spine. Bob swallowed hard, as you disappeared further and further into the crowd of customers, the pilot couldn't help but stare at how your pants made your ass look nice. He looked up directly feeling guilty even though deep down he knew you didn't mind, or so he thought. The idea of joining you crossed his mind but he was far too shy to dance in the middle of all these people. His eyes then fell on the beer he had bought you, he didn't wait another second and drank at once the liquid from the bottle.

Bob was not someone who drank alcohol and he regretted changing things once the burning sensation was no longer in his chest but in his throat, he put the bottle back on the table and got up a little too quickly which caused him to almost fall to the ground. He caught himself at the table and put his glasses back on correctly before heading to the center of the bar where most of the people were dancing. The blond made his way through the crowd and looked for you even if his vision played him a few times, he found you in the middle of the crowd dancing as if no one was around you. Bob watched you intently and froze in place, watching every move you made so intently. The first thing he noticed was the fact that you had taken off your jacket, you were now in a simple white t-shirt but before he could stop himself to look, you opened your eyes that you had kept closed and your gaze fell directly on the pilot who was no longer moving, you smiled and approached him keeping the rhythm of the song playing. You took his hands in yours and reproached him next to you, as you kept up the pace Bob looked like he was having a hard time finding him. You let go of his hands much to his sadness but you quickly put them on his shoulders and leaned closer to him.

“Let yourself go !” You say practically shouting because of the noise.

"I-I don't know how to do that." He confessed, making big gestures with his hands.

"Yes you know ! Don’t pay attention to others, just look at me and listen to the music. And then, it's done !” You explained before taking one of his hands in yours and pulling him towards the center with you.

The song ended softly and gave way to “Murder on the dancefloor”, as the first notes rang out in the bar you looked Bob straight in the eyes and smiled comfortingly at him before starting to move to the beat of the music. Astonishment Bob listened to your advice and let himself be carried away by the melody and closed his eyes shaking his head with the rest of his body, during all the music you never let go of his hand without really realizing it. It was as if this gesture was natural when you didn't even know each other a few hours ago.

You were so in your perfect little bubble that neither of you realized that all the pilots around the pool table were watching you intently, “Since when Bob can dance ?” Asked Coyote amused by what he was watching.

“No the real question is since when Bob interested girls ?” Asked Hangman with his eyebrows frowned.

Phoenix slapped him on the shoulder making him understand to shut up before rooster reacted, “Wasn’t it you a moment ago who made fun of her ?”

“I wasn’t making fun of her !”

“Yes you were-”

“No I wasn’t.” Interrupted Natasha. “I’m just too drunk and thought the idea that Y/N kinda liked Bob was crazy, but come one look at them ! He’s a little rabbit and her a real tiger but they’re really cute- plus Bob’s really nice and Y/N too-”

“Yeah you’re right you had enough drinks tonight.” Said Payback as he took the female by the shoulders to guided her outside, all the pilots followed and decides to call it a night.

When the music came to an end Bob opened his eyes again all smiles and paying no attention to anyone except the girl in front of him, he was only looking at you and couldn't look away. As you were about to speak, he crushed his lips on yours and placed one of his hands on your hip as he placed the other one on your cheek pulling you towards him. You were surprised at his gesture at first, surprised that he had enough courage when he seemed shy but you didn't think more and put your arms around his neck to stick you even more to him. Your lips moved in time with the music which made you smile through the kiss. His lips were soft just like him, your whole body was electrified by his touch and you could start to feel a warm sensation in your lower abdomen that you recognized all too well. Your hands moved in his curls but then you pulled out breathlessly to get some air, you moved slightly apart just enough to breathe but at no time did either of you remove your hands.

You breathed heavily but no one could hear it except him with the noise that was around, you raised your head to look at Bob and you observed that his cheeks but also the tip of his nose were red from to friction of your skins, which made you think again of the feeling of heat in the lower part of your body. You took the collar of his uniform and pulled him towards you to give him a simple kiss on his lips before whispering a sentence in his ear that Bob never thought he will heard one day.

“Please take me to yours and take off this horrible uniform.”

He swallowed hard and nodded quickly, you took your jacket that was on a chair and put it on before taking the blonde's hand back in yours, on the way to the door your eyes met Penny's who was smiling and shaking her head seeing you both. The pilot opens the door and the cool night air hits you suddenly which he notices, he steps closer to you and puts his arm around your shoulders to try to warm you up as much as possible.

“My car is right there.” He said pointing to his car.

Once in front of his car he opened the passenger door and you sat down thanking him, he walked around and quickly settled in his way before turning on the ignition and leaving the Hard Deck parking lot.

»» ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─── ««

The trip to his apartment seemed like an eternity to you both even though he assured you that he only lived a few minutes from the bar since he was close to the base, during the travel he had set his hand on your thigh which only increased the feeling of warmth and the burning desire. Now you were both in front of the door of his house, while Bob was looking for the right key, you were clinging to his arm leaving him many kisses in the neck which destabilized him enormously but once he found the right key he turned to you and kissed you passionately turning the key in the lock. Once the door opened, he took you by the arm and pulled you with him inside without ever separating your lips from his. He then pushed you against the still open door what closed it and the noise of the slammed made you jump, you were now stuck between the wood and the pilot's body.

“Sorry.” Bob muttered between kisses realizing he might have pushed you a little too hard.

You didn't answer him but deepened the kiss to make him understand that the only thing you were waiting for was him to show you where the bedroom was, his hands went behind you and he pressed your body against his. You took the opportunity to put your arms around his neck again before he started walking with you in the middle of the corridor, he dragged you with him into one of the first rooms of the hallway and closed the door this time with his foot. He continued to walk towards the bed and tried to put you gently on it, even if his gestures remained abrupt, you sank a little more into the mattress since Bob remained glued to you. So you pulled away from him and caught your breath, "Please." You asked him.

“What do you want ?” He asked in a whisper.

“You.”

With that he kissed you again before pulling away completely from you, you leaned back on your two elbows and watched him take off his shoes and then his uniform, you moved further into the bed without forgetting to take off your shoes and starting to take off the rest of your clothes. Once both in your underwear, the man sat with you on the bed and your make out session resumed just as soon. This time it wasn't just a feeling you were really hot and the burning desire in your stomach only grow more and more, it's as if the sun had entered the room. Your two bodies were so close to each other, it was as if you were one. You could almost feel every muscle every time he made a move, the only thing you opened up to was whimpering from the feel of his warm skin against yours. You put your right hand between your two hot bodies and caressed his abs which made him moan in turn, you were for the moment in control of the situation which you felt could escape at any moment. Bob reached his hands in front of your breast before planning a bit with the lace of your white bra, then he placed one of his cold hands behind your back and grabbed your bra clip to untie it, he quickly removed it and tossed it carelessly over his shoulder. He kissed your cheek before going down your neck and took his time to go through the entirety of your skin before going down even more, enough to get to your chest. As he was about to reach your breasts he stopped.

He looked up at you, “Can I ?”

You nodded quickly biting your bottom lip not really expecting that question but you thought that it was incredibly hot.

“‘kay.” He said simply in a whisper before finally taking off his glasses and reaching out to put them on the nightstand next to the bed.

He moved back in front of your chest and placed a simple and delicate kiss on the tip of your right breast which made you moan softly, a sweet melody that Bob wanted to hear again. So that's what he did, he kissed your breast harder and sucked your nipple while kneading the other with the help of his hand. You couldn't hold back, your whimpers were turned into moans much to the blond's delight. One of your hands worked its way through his hair before you dropped your head back, it felt so good.

He released your left breast from his hand and began to kiss it in turn, this time biting lightly on the tip of your nipple which made you moan again. The feeling was so good you couldn’t control your body and moans now, every sound coming from your mouth was controlled by the pilot. At the same time his hand, which was no longer occupied, slid along your skin and found the elastic of your panties. You felt two of his fingers go under the piece of fabric, unlike you his fingers were still icy against your hip as you were burning, the sensation of his hand so close to your core sending shivers down your spine.

He raises his head and you missed the feel of his lips on your chest already but he quickly replaced it with his lips on yours, Bob bit lightly on your bottom lip letting you know he wanted more. So you opened your mouth slowly and he took the opportunity to put his tongue through it, while you were trying to dominate during the kiss to take control of the situation again, you ended up admitting defeat and letting the male take control while the butterflies in your stomach were going to explode. As you felt your crotch getting wetter and wetter, you felt Bob's second hand reach the other side of your panties and pull it gently as if nothing had happened. Quickly you find yourself completely naked in front of him while he was still wearing his underwear then you felt something different deep inside you. Bob was laying kisses down your body starting with your cheek and then your neck but you were too deep in your thoughts at the time to really pay attention. You weren't used to being in a submissive position and yet Bob looked so shy at the bar but now he was confidant, so confidant. You felt small next to him, something you had never felt with anyone. Surprisingly you didn't mind, you were more surprised at your body's reaction to the blonde's actions. You snapped out of your thoughts when you felt heavy breathing on your pussy, you lifted your head from the pillows and looked at the pilot. You had been so preoccupied with your thoughts that you hadn't even felt him come down there.

“Can I ?” He asked once again with his big blue eyes on you waiting impatiently for you to answer him.

“Please stop asking me.” You answer with a needy and febrile voice.

He nodded and parted your legs slightly so he could put his head between them, he took your thighs in his hands and pulled you closer to him which made you laugh softly. He placed them on his shoulders and then placed a simple kiss on your clit which sent electricity through your whole body, you bit your lower lip not wanting to make too much noise but it was a failure when Bob started licking your pussy like a thirsty cat. You let the moans of pleasure that you couldn't contain any longer roll down your tongue. Once again your hands found their way into his curls as he continued to lick faster and harder, you buried the back of your head in the pillows. You had the impression that he had done this all his life, his nose was pressing down on your clitoris as he continued to lick up all of your juices.

“B-Bobby !” You moaned.

The blond let go of one of your thighs that was shaking without his grip and put his hand on your stomach so that his thumb could reach your clitoris and work on it. He pulled away from your crotch and moved his hand to where his head had been a moment ago, he let go of your clit and placed two of his fingers at your entrance. He got up and moved over to stand right next to you so he could see your face and kiss you, which he did before pushing his fingers inside you. Surprised you opened your mouth and grabbed his bicep which was right next to you, you looked him in the eye all the way and you could see an indelible smirk on his face.

“You’re so tight-” He whispered as he started moving inside of you.

“I- please.” You tried to form a sentence but it was impossible, what he was doing to you gave you too much pleasure to be able to say anything.

“Shh darling, let yourself go remember ?” He said as he repeat your own words from earlier at the Hard Deck.

Due to your inability to say anything, Bob took the opportunity to speed up the movements. His fingers were the perfect size, they went deep enough to find the spot that was going to make you cum. So deep in you that you were seeing stars right now, the sensation of burning in your stomach was definitely still there. He was able to hit the exact spot you wanted like as if he known your body by heart, your grip around his arm tightened and your legs were shaking so much you felt like you were going to explode at any moment. And while you felt it coming more and more Bob added his thumb again on your clit and play with it which made you cum hard on his fingers.

“Bobby !” You cried out in pleasure as your back arched.

The pilot leaned towards you pulling his fingers away and kissed you gently while you were still in a trance after what had just happened. He picked up a tissue that was on his nightstand right next to his glasses and quickly cleaned his fingers before giving you his full attention again. He leaned down and continued to kiss you, placing himself right on top of you, you put your arms around his neck to keep him as close to you as possible.

Out of breath you parted but he pressed his forehead to yours, “So…”

“It was intense.”

“Intense ?” He asked.

“Intense.”You confirm by closing your eyes a quick second before opening them again. “D-Do you want to continue or-”

“Like you want. I don't want to rush you.” He said honestly.

You kissed his lips before continuing, “Bobby I loved this moment but I think I'm too tired to continue anything.”You say shyly, afraid that he will react badly.

“No problem.” He said softly kissing your cheek before dropping on top of you making sure not to hurt you. He placed his head on the side of your neck and left a few kisses there, “Thank you for this moment.” He spoke again after a moment of silence.

“I should be the person to thank you, I didn't do anything.” You say, laughing softly before getting serious again. “Do you mind if I just take my panties back ?”

He rolled directly onto the mattress apologizing quickly, you assured him it was nothing and stood up to pick up your panties and your t-shirt. You put on the pieces of clothes and asked him where his bathroom was, he showed you the direction and you left the room. Once in the bathroom you quickly cleaned yourself with toilet paper then put it in the trash and fixed your hair by tying it in a bun, you looked at yourself in the mirror trying to realized what just happened. It wasn’t in your habits to do one night stand things but the moment was so good and you never thought you were going to say something like that but you felt a connection with the pilot. You didn't know what was going to happen tomorrow and you didn't want to think about it but you were sure it wasn't the last time you were going to hear about Robert Floyd You scratch your right shoulder as you start laughing at your reflection. “Oh my god.” You whispered.

When you returned to his room, Bob was lying on his back but he didn't turn around when you entered. You approached the bed cautiously and slipped in silently realizing that the man was asleep, you smiled at yourself and placed the covers correctly on both of your bodies. You approached him and put your arm around him to stay close before placing your head on his shoulder but as you closed your eyes you fell asleep immediately due to fatigue in the arms of one of the sexiest man you ever met.

#top gun fanfiction #top gun fic #top gun imagine #top gun maverick #top gun movie #bob floyd imagine #top gun bob #robert bob floyd #robert floyd #bob floyd #bob floyd x reader #bob floyd smut #robert floyd x reader #robert floyd fluff #robert floyd imagines #Robert floyd smut #lewis pullman #hard deck

536 notes · View notes

risriswrites · 1 year

Text

Mary's Song

summary: bradley bradshaw is in love with his best friend and it takes them years to figure out how to tell each other how they feel. loosely based on taylor swift's song "mary's song (oh my my my)"

pairing: best friend reader x bradley bradshaw, fem reader

author's note: so this is my first time writing a fanfic and actually posting it anywhere. i'm actually really proud of it so if anyone reads it and actually likes it feel free to like and reblog :)

word count: 7.8k words

She said, "I was seven and you were nine"

I looked at you like the stars that shine

In the sky, the pretty lights

And our daddies used to joke about the two of us

Growing up and falling in love

And our mamas smiled and rolled their eyes

And said, "Oh my, my, my"

It was a sunny summer day in Santa Barbara, California. Carole wasn’t sure if it was going to be a good beach day with the temperature being in the mid 70’s. A subtle breeze could easily take that seemingly beach friendly weather and turn it into a frigid nightmare.

In the end the absence of clouds made her commit to packing up her beach bag, loading up the car, and dragging her only son to the beach to soak up some much-needed sun.

Their lives had changed since losing Nick. Even though five years had passed, the loss still impacted them every day. Thankfully, having Mav around softened the heartache a little.

Pete had given Carole a call earlier that week letting her know he would be in town on his “completely unnecessary” vacation. And after humoring him with some back-and-forth banter and mild guilt tripping, she was able to convince him to come to Santa Barbara for the week.

Carole had never known Mav to have a sister, so when he shows up with a seven-year-old girl in tow claiming it’s his niece, she’s a little flabbergasted.

“It’s just so hard for me to wrap my head around that I’ve known you for years, and never knew you had a sister! Let alone a niece.” Carole squints at him accusingly.

Maverick, who had decided to take full advantage of the California sun, was laying out on an old lawn chair Carole had brought out for him. Peering over his aviators at her he smirked, “I’ve gotta keep some secrets to myself, don’t ya think? Besides, my sister and I weren’t close until a couple of years ago, so there wasn’t much to tell anyway.” He deflected. He wasn’t going to tell Carole the reason behind the reconnection of the two siblings being the death of her late husband.

“Still, when you first brought her out here, I thought you had finally found someone to settle down with and had a kid. Albeit I would have been offended for not getting an invite to your wedding if you had decided to have one, but I digress.” Carole brought the bottle of water she packed up to her lips gingerly, sipping at the refreshing liquid. Turns out she had left the umbrella at home and the sun had taken no pity upon her mishap.

“Definitely not the case. You know how I feel about settling down and it hasn’t really changed since Charlie.” Maverick let out, breathing out a laugh in the process.

Carole rolled her eyes, pushing her sunglasses further up the bridge of her nose, “It’ll happen one day when you least expect it to Mav, I can guarantee you that. Can’t be the heartbreaker forever.” She huffed, glancing over to the two children currently chasing each other on the beach.

Pete followed her gaze and focused on the scene playing out in front of him; hoping to derail Carole from lecturing him about his past lovers.

“She’s gonna have him wrapped around her little finger before the week’s over. I can see it now” he smiled, nodding his head in the direction of the two kids. Mav watched on as his niece looked up at Bradley with a small pout forming on her face, seemingly disgruntled with the game after playing it for so long and is now trying to convince him to partake in something else.

With a soft smile and another roll of her eyes Carole leaned further back in her chair letting her eyes flutter shut, knowing her son was safe with Mav’s own eyes on him.

“I mean seriously Carole, they’re gonna grow up and end up disgustingly in love with each other. Mark my words.” His gaze never leaving the two kids who had stopped chasing each other; after Maverick’s niece had successfully changed Bradley’s mind.

Now instead, opting to dig a tunnel from the water to a little pit they had made further up the beach. Mav had overheard his niece calling it a “hot tub” but he’s certain that whatever they were making had no resemblance to one in the slightest. Bradley didn’t seem to mind though and had gone along with the small build anyway, glancing over to the seven year-old girl every now-and-then to see how she liked it.

Carole didn’t even bother with glancing up at the two when replying to Mav with a very sarcastic “sure Pete” and allowing herself to slip back into brief relaxation.

Oh My My My

*Nine years later*

I was sixteen when suddenly

I wasn't that little girl you used to see

But your eyes still shined like pretty lights

“Relax sunshine, you’re gonna be fine.”

“Bradley, I swear if you tell me I’m going to be fine one more time I’m going to throw the nearest object to me at your head.” You growled.

Bradley glanced at the scene in front of him, his best friend of nine years (and counting) sitting on the floor of her bedroom currently pouting angrily down at her latest grade, with the closest object to her being an old textbook. Cute.

You have terrible aim; he’ll take his chances.

“Sunshine” he breathes out. “I’ve told you before Mr. Greenwood is just a hard-ass who likes knowing his class is one of the most difficult to pass in all of high school.” Bradley sighed.

You let out another huff of frustration swiping a lock of hair out of your face, “I know, I know, it’s just so annoying. I’ve spent weeks preparing for this exam and the most I can show for it is a B-.”

“You’ve only got a month left and you’ll be out of there, don’t stress about it, you’re passing and that’s what matters.” Bradley reassures.

“Easy for you to say, you’re graduating in three weeks, leaving me behind at this poor excuse of a school. Who knows when I’ll see you again! You’ll probably move to another country to become a hippie, learn to speak a different language, and change your name to something obscene like Holden” you sputter out waving your hands around in the process.

Bradley scrunches his eyebrows and wrinkles his nose at the obscene set of words that just left your lips, “I’ll have you know I would not become a hippie.” He pauses briefly before continuing, “I’d be a musician, thank you very much.” Bradley mocks offence.

You finally glance up at him from your spot on the floor, almost instantly regretting that decision. He looks too attractive laid out on your bed like that, it’s almost unfair.

Bradley had filled out a little over the summer, rambling on and on about how he wants to be in top physical condition for when he starts training to become a naval pilot -like his dad had been and consequentially like Uncle Mav. Last time you looked over to him a mere two minutes ago he was laid out on your bed looking up towards the ceiling like it was some humongous puzzle piece.

Now as you look at him, he’s propped himself up onto his forearm; his bicep muscle making itself very apparent; supporting his body weight on it, while simultaneously leaning his head on his fist, gazing softly down at you. Stop looking at me like that or I swear I’m going to fall in love with you.

You visibly swallowed before casting your eyes back down at your paper lying on the floor beneath you.

“I like that you’re more offended by the job title than the name change,” she scoffs.

“Also, there’s no way you’d become a musician, I refuse to believe you possess such a talent.” You threw back, giving your head a shake.

Bradley scoffed before jumping into a spiel of how he’s “like a magician” when he’s on the piano. Lecturing about his many talents and capabilities in an attempt to pull you away from staring at that stupid piece of paper any longer.

A smile pulls from your lips before you let out a few giggles regarding his exaggerated so called “talents”.

Bradley perks up at this and fixes you with a teasing glare, “What are you laughing at? I’m serious! I'm one of the best pianists of all time! I even give Beethoven a run for his money.”

“Oh, I’m sure you do, given that Beethoven has been dead for over a hundred years.” You chortle, tossing your head back in another round of laughs.

Bradley raises his eyebrows in offence, “Oh now you’re in for it.”

You look up between your fits of laughter only to see an eighteen-year-old Bradley Bradshaw launching himself off your bed and tackling you to the ground.

Bradley immediately starts wriggling his fingers up and down the sides of your ribcage, knowing that you’re extremely ticklish, sending you into an uncontrollable amount of laughter. You push away Bradley’s hands a few times in futile attempts to get him away from you; throwing yourself around in the process, before abandoning that plan and instead trying to push at his chest.

You manage to hook your leg over one of his and give his chest a hefty push using all your weight to send him over your shoulder. He grabs ahold of your arm in the process, bringing you with him. Both teenagers now laughing uncontrollably.

Bradley is currently holding both of your arms captive against his chest, laughing at your adorable attempt to try and tickle him. And you joining in because, why did you think you were going to be able to out-muscle him?

You look down at Bradley, stopping your assault and just enjoying the moment. His head is tossed back on the hard-wood floor, eyebrows scrunched while his eyes remain tightly closed pinching at the sides, his mouth is open letting out little breaths of laughter. He’s so beautiful. Your laughs have stopped now, just staring down at him with a soft smile.

Bradley notices your laughs have stopped and chooses that moment to look up. Oh. You’re peering down at him with a smile on your lips and a look he can’t quite decipher in your eyes. Your eyes are so pretty. He gives you a sheepish smile back. It’s too quiet now, and when did his hands move to your waist?

At that moment a loud, shrill pinging rings in the pair’s ears throughout the room. Making both teens scramble away from each other in a mess of “Oh I’m sorry” and “Shit” as your limbs get caught up in your hurriedness to get away from a moment neither of you know what to do with.

Bradley crosses the room in a few long, hurried strides successfully turning the obnoxious alarm off.

He huffs out a breath in mild relief. With the alarm off, your room is once again blanketed in quiet, which funnily enough he’s not sure if he prefers the silence or the pinging of his alarm. He turns to look at you and decides then that he definitely prefers the alarm over the silence. You’re standing at the opposite end of the room; your hair is a bit of a mess and you’ve got a subtle blush to your cheeks making your skin glow a little differently. Fuck.

He swallows, deciding to break the silence “I gotta go. Gotta be up for school tomorrow.”

You nod your head peering down at the floor afraid to look into his eyes, “Yeah” you breathe out. A beat passes, “Yeah of course. It’s late, I’ll walk you out.” You ramble out, before running a hand through your hair, hoping to compose yourself quickly and pray he doesn’t pick up on the massive crush you have on him.

You’re swinging your bedroom door open and stepping out hurriedly before Bradley can even grab his keys and wallet. He takes a breath once he’s got everything and forces himself to follow you out of the room.

You didn’t make it far without him, just a few steps down the hallway of your room before he’s right behind you again.

Before he knows it, you’ve made it to your front door and you’re swinging the cream colored door open for him. “See you tomorrow?” you ask as nonchalantly as you can, throwing him a tight smile as if it were a bone.

He steps over the threshold of your home, putting a little space between the two of you. Something’s different. He glances up at you, eyes wandering over your facial features. It’s still you, but something’s different.

He gives you a soft smile shoving his hands into the pocket of his jeans deciding to let that thought go for the night, “Yeah I’ll swing by to pick you up.”

You glance over at the blue bronco currently sitting in your mom’s driveway. Your eyes quickly flitting from him to the bronco and back to him before you give him a genuine smile, “Sounds great!”

He gives a short nod before he’s pulling you away from the door into a quick hug, giving your waist a squeeze, then begrudgingly letting you go. Bradley turns away from you then, and starts walking down the gravel of your driveway.

You watch from your front door, making sure he gets into his truck safely. Leaning against the doorframe as you call out, “Let me know when you get home!”

He looks back as he opens the door smiling, shaking his head with a short breath of laughter leaving his lips, leaning his weight onto the door tilting his head up as he shouts back to you, “I’ll call you!”

And then he’s climbing into the driver’s seat, starting the car, reversing out of your driveway and speeding down the road to get home to his mom, who no doubt is wondering when her son will be home; he said he’d be back by ten and it’s almost twelve in the morning.

You watch him speed off before deciding you should really close the door and stop watching after him like he’s going to turn around and come back.

With that thought in mind, you grip the door and shut it softly. Leaning against it in hopes to not wake your mom; at least that’s what you’re telling yourself, who’s got a shift at the hospital in a few hours.

“Bradley leave?”

You nearly jump out of your own skin at the sound of your mom’s voice. “Jesus don’t scare me like that! At least make a noise or something before talking, I swear I almost shit myself.” you huff. “But yes, he just left, and I really need to get ready for bed sooo… goodnight.” And with that, you’re quickly making your way back to your room to start your night routine.

Your mom watches you make a quick escape before rolling her eyes and laughing softly to herself.

Oh My My My

*Nine years later*

“I’m just saying, there’s no way you guys didn’t date back then.” Jessie emphasizes, punctuating her statement by pointing an accusing finger in your direction, slurping her strawberry milkshake obnoxiously.

You roll your eyes, glancing away from your friend to look through the window at the traffic piling up outside of the small diner. “Nothing happened Jessie” you huff, mumbling an “unfortunately” under your breath. Jessie doesn’t notice, thankfully.

“Well, you guys had everyone else fooled in school then. I’m pretty sure Kimmy was going to blow a gasket when she asked Bradley to go on a date and he shot her down because of you.” She smirks, swirling a fry into her milkshake before biting into it.

You huff in annoyance, “Okay that was like nine years ago first of all. Second of all, I had nothing to do with that! He could’ve easily gone on that date. He knows I would’ve been fine with rescheduling our weekly movie night.” you follow your statement quickly by sipping from your own milkshake, trying to avoid having this conversation with Jessie for what seems like the billionth time.

“That’s my entire point! He could’ve if he wanted to! But instead, he turned her down to spend time with YOU!” she all but shouts.

You tuck into yourself, scanning the diner to see if anyone was paying attention to Jessie’s loud proclamation. No one’s looking; to your relief, so you quickly return your gaze to her. “Look, Bradley and I have been best friends since we were seven. I’m pretty sure if he had any romantic feelings for me, he would’ve acted on them by now.”

“Where is your loverboy anyway?” Jessie asks, quirking a perfectly arched brow.

Another frustrated huff leaves your lips, Jessie was never the type of friend to let something go. You grab at a fry from your own plate and casually dip it into the pool of ketchup before tossing it into your mouth, “I think he has training today.” You punctuate your guess with a shrug of your shoulders, “I don’t really know, I’m not his keeper.” That’s exactly where he is. He texted you this morning saying so himself.

“Why? Do you want to go on a date with him?” you tease.

“God no! He’s not my type, you know that.” Jessie scoffs.

“Mhm, sure he’s not.” He’s not. You’re just tired of Jessie trying to make something out of nothing. False hope sucks, so reversing the accusations onto Jessie allows you to have the upper hand.

Jessie flicks a strand of wavy black hair out of her face, takes her last sip from her milkshake, then fixes you with a pointed look, “I know you want me to drop it so I will. But please just think about it. There’s something there, and I’m ninety-five percent sure if you were to kiss Bradshaw the next time you saw him, he wouldn’t pull away.”

And with that, Jessie scoots from her side of the booth, grabs her check, and proceeds to walk up to the cash register to pay for her meal, and to flirt with the cashier of course.

With a small smile and a shake of your head, you grab your own check and start to scoot out of the old booth.

Once Jessie has secured the cashier’s number you pay for your meal and you both exit the diner pausing outside to give each other a brief hug before parting ways to your respective vehicles.

Once inside of your car you immediately lock the doors and glance briefly down at your phone. A new message from Bradley has popped up.

Bradley: “Hey sunshine, I’m going to be finishing up here in two hours, do you want to meet up at the hard deck for some drinks?”

Your heart jumps at the idea of seeing Bradley later. Fucking traitor.

You: “Hey!”

You: “Yeah I’m down for that! What time are you thinking?”

You put your phone down in the cupholder of your car and pull out of the diner’s parking lot. Halfway back to your apartment your phone vibrates inside of the cupholder. Knowing that it’s probably Bradley has you going a little over the speed limit to hurry home.

Once you’re safely parked in your designated spot, you grab at your phone, unlocking it to see what he’s said.

Bradley: “7:15?”

You quickly send a quick “that sounds good” text before hopping out of your car and making the trek up to your space.

By the time you’ve ascended the elevator to your room and locked the door behind you, your phone has vibrated again.

Bradley: “Perfect, I’ll come pick you up.”

With a few hours to kill you kick off your sneakers and jeans, throwing on one of your favorite oversized shirts and make yourself comfortable on the couch.

A power nap is just what you need in order to liven yourself up to go out to the bar with Bradley. So, with that thought in mind you set an alarm for an hour and click your phone off, slipping under your old throw blanket and drift off to sleep.

Only to be awakened by the blaring noises of said alarm, what feels like only seconds later.

Sure enough, it’s been an hour. You huff in annoyance throwing the blanket off your face and take a few deep breaths before forcing yourself to sit up from the couch and make your way to your bedroom to pick out an outfit for tonight.

The little yellow sundress you bought a few months ago peeks out from your closet and you quickly pull it from its hanger before you can talk yourself out of it. Discarding your oversized shirt onto your chair you slip the sundress over your head and pull it down to settle at your midthigh.

Glancing at your reflection in the mirror you decide a touch up of your makeup and fluffing of the hair should be enough for tonight.

Once you’re finished, you glance over at your phone to check the time, pressing on the screen making it come to life. There’s a text from Bradley telling you he’ll be at your place in five minutes – four minutes ago. Your eyes go wide, and a panic runs down your spine before you’re scrambling around your room for a pair of shoes to go with your dress and where the fuck did you put your purse?

A few knocks land on your door moments later and you curse under your breath deciding to just go answer the door and forego searching for your purse. Only to see it sittin pretty on your kitchen island.

Swiping the forsaken piece of faux leather off the counter you stride towards the door, opening it in one swift motion.

And there he is.

Bradley Bradshaw in all of his sun kissed glory, hands in his jean pockets looking down your hall before he’s turning to look at you.

He sucks in a quick breath, barely audible, but you heard it.

Fuck, stop looking at me like that.

“Hey” he breathes out.

“Hi” you smile.

A second passes by, both of you just looking at each other before you come out of your daze and decide you’ve been staring for too long.

You breathe out a laugh and step out into the hallway, “ready to go?” you ask.

He takes a small step back from you as you turn to lock your door, giving his head a shake before fixing his gaze. Once you’ve turned yourself back to face him he has an easy smile on his face grabbing your hand in his, leading the way down the hallway, “Just waiting on you sunshine.”

You roll your eyes, he can’t see it, but he knows you’ve done it as soon as you quip out, “Coming from the guy who sets aside time to groom his barely-there pornstache I’ll take as much time as I please, thank you very much.”

He hits the “down” button for the elevator before turning to you and settles his hands on your hips pulling you a little closer to him. Your breath hitches at the action and your eyes widen for a second before you’re forcing yourself to appear normal again, unbothered.

“So now you’re hating on my stache,” he fixes you with a questioning look.

You stick your chin up a bit in defiance, “yes.”

You say it so confidently he almost believes you.

“Oh really? Then who was the one protesting against Nat, just last week; about the ‘stache’ being one of my best features? And how I can’t shave it off,” he raises an eyebrow.

The elevator button dings allowing you a brief escape from his grasp and question. Sidestepping out of his hands into the elevator, you press the “ground floor” button before looking back at him cocking your head to the side smiling, “Wasn’t that Jessie?”

He jumps into the elevator before the doors close and scoffs out a laugh nudging his shoulder against yours, “No sunshine, pretty sure that was you.”

“I don’t recall saying that.” You hum back.

“That’s because you were too busy downing those fruity drinks of yours.”

“Okay first of all, it’s called a fuzzy naval, second of all, it’s not my fault beer is disgusting, I don’t even know why you guys drink that shit.” you scrunch your face at him.

The pair of you step out of the elevator, Bradley once again slipping his hand back into yours, “Don’t worry sunshine, I won’t judge you.”

You decide not to comment on that and just let Bradley guide you to his blue bronco. Seriously, that car just screams Bradley Bradshaw and you’re not sure if you like the car so much because of the way it looks, or if it’s just him.

“Bradshaw, you have got to let me drive her one day.”

Bradley opens his passenger door for you and keeps a hold on your hand, helping you into the bronco. Totally unnecessary but you’ll allow it. One side of his mouth quirks up in a smirk, “in your dreams baby” and then he’s shutting your door and jogging over to the driver’s side.

That’s new.

Before you know it, he’s reversing out of the guest parking space and turning onto the main road to get to the bar of choice, the Hard Deck.

He’s got his window down letting one arm lean out of it and the other has a grip on the steering wheel, looking completely relaxed and carefree. You turn to look out your own window, leaning your head back against the headrest letting the soft sound of ABBA playing through his speakers to be the only thing you focus on.

Once he’s parked, Bradley has already made his way to your side of the vehicle and is opening your door, before you can even reach for the handle. He offers his hand to you again and you take it as you step down and out from the bronco.

You smile at him mumbling out a quick “thank you” before letting his hand go again and start heading towards the entrance of the Hard Deck. He follows behind you quickly grabbing the door for the both of you and letting it swing closed behind him.

The Hard Deck is a little crowded tonight, so Bradley decides to make his way in front of you to make it easier for the both of you to head towards the bar. This time you slip your hand in his as to not lose him in the mass of people.

Bradley’s heart jumping at the feeling of you reaching for him this time.

Once you’ve reached the bar he grabs Penny’s attention, waving her over to him.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t my favorite troublemaking duo.” Penny smirks. “The usual?” she quirks a brow.

Bradley smiles before replying with a “you got it”, and Penny glances over to you for a confirmation on Bradley’s request, receiving a small smile and a nod promptly followed by a “yes please”.

Penny lets out a light laugh before heading off to get Bradley a beer and to teach one of her new girls how to make a “fuzzy naval”.

Bradley looks around the bar looking to see if he can find Nat in the sea of civilians and naval aviators. He knew that more often than not, she’d be floating around here once they’d finished up for the day. Most of the naval aviators would come here to destress after training, so it’s not much of a surprise to him when he sees her leaning against the pool table, baiting another civilian into playing a round of pool.

Once he’s spotted Nat, he makes a mental note to head over to the pool table she’s currently occupying. He knows you find comfort in Nat’s company and considering the amount of people crowding around the bar tonight, he can already see that you’re ready to make a run for it.

He slides his arm around your shoulders, trying to provide some comfort before you two can move away from the bar.

Bradley gives your shoulder a light squeeze to gain your attention before he points casually over to Nat. You smile up at him before turning back to the bar, relaxing into his side.

Finally, Penny returns with your drinks, flashing the two of you a smile and giving Bradley a knowing look before she’s turned away and rushing to the opposite end of the bar. Bradley grabs your hand pulling you towards Nat.

Natasha sees the two of you making your way over to her and the grin she had on her face widens even more seeing Bradley holding your hand.

Once the pair of you have reached her, she hits the cue ball towards the black eight ball. Easily slotting it into the pocket, shooting a hand out to the shocked civilian; who she has successfully hustled for the night. He lays a fifty-dollar bill in her hand and walks away in shame before she’s turning and looking at the two lovestruck dumbasses in front of her.

Smiling she says, “Look who decided to drag her ass away from work to make it out tonight.”

You smirk, “How’s the best naval aviator I know?”

Natasha’s smile turns into a smirk, “She’s doing great, already made fifty bucks off the civvy who’s sulking over there in the corner.” She gives her head a nod, gesturing to the man who’s now looking like a kicked puppy, chatting with his buddies.

Natasha turns back to the duo, “Head was a little big when he came over here, figured I’d help him deflate it a bit,” she shrugged.

You laugh and Bradley just looks up to the ceiling with a small shake of his head.

“Good, someone needs to do it.” You say, exasperated, sipping on your drink in the process.

Bradley just let you and Nat carry on conversing with each other, listening in on things that he deemed important, but he was mainly just looking at you. Eyes roaming over your features as you talk.

He is definitely enjoying the view. You’re giggling at something Nat had said, occasionally sipping on your drink, usually followed by flicking a strand of hair out of your face. Don’t even get him started on how the sundress is making him feel. Where did you even get that from? You never wear sundresses. The color complements your skin and makes you stick out in the sea of khaki and jeans like a sore thumb.

He's suddenly pulled back into the conversation when Nat smugly starts talking about training earlier today.

“Oh, and you’ll never guess who finally got their callsign today” Nat laughs, exaggeratedly leaning over towards you, sneaking her eyes over to Bradley.

You whip your head over to him with widened eyes, “You didn’t tell me that you got your callsign today!”

“It’s not a big deal sunshine,” he smiles warmly at her, happy to have her attention on him instead of Nat.

That statement grants him an eyeroll from you, “sure it isn’t. It’s not like you’ve been wanting to know what your callsign would be since you were five.”

He lets out a laugh, bringing his beer up to his lips and taking a sip, eyes trained on yours.

Your eyes flicker to his lips for a second before you catch yourself and focus back on his eyes again.

He smirks and drags the bottle away from his lips setting it down on a nearby table, “they decided to pay homage to my dad” he breathes out. “So, Rooster is what they came up with,” a small smile graces his lips. “Keeping it in the bird category.”

You smile warmly at him, squeezing his arm, “I like it.”

“Definitely beats Holden by a landslide.” you scoff.

Bradley snorts and glances over to Nat, who’s watching the exchange with a knowing smile.

“Has Nat told you hers yet?” he inquires.

You shake your head before fixing Nat with a questioning stare.

Nat lets out a huff, “It’s a long story”.

“Well, how about you two talk about it while I grab us another drink.” He suggested.

With approval received by both women he quickly makes his way back over to the bar ordering two drinks and a water for himself.

He’s drumming his fingers on the bar waiting for the drinks, casually bobbing his head with the music, when he catches movement out of the corner of his eye. Knowing you and phoenix were in that general area he turns his head to check in on them, only to see some dick, leaning on the pool table attempting at starting up a conversation with you.

He watches as your face, once relaxed and happy, turns sour. With narrowed eyes and pursed lips, you start talking back to the stranger.

Bradley hasn’t moved yet, but the longer the guy stands there talking to his girl, the angrier he gets.

Bradley thinks he could’ve been fine with letting you and phoenix handle the dick who looks like he walked straight off the set of jersey shore. However, the second he put his hand on your wrist Bradley lost all resolve and was moving swiftly from the bar to make his way back towards you.

You scowled down at the unwanted hand on your wrist before yanking it back towards your body, “Yeah, that’s great, glad you’re having a good night, but don’t touch me.”

“Oh, come on sweetheart, I was only being friendly. Let me buy you a drink?” He reached again for your hand, prompting you to take a step back, bumping into a hard, familiar chest.

“Pretty sure she already told you to keep your hands to yourself.” An arm sneaks around your waist, “And I’d hate to have to tell you again.” Bradley’s hostile voice rings in your ears, crystal clear over the music coming from the jukebox.

The Vinny wannabe scrunches his brows at the pair, “hey man, maybe if you don’t want your girl to be approached, maybe you should tell her how to dress. You can see that ass for miles.”

Bradley clenches his jaw and starts to make his way around you when he feels his hand being pulled back. Turning to face you, he gives you a questioning look, furrowing his eyebrows in the process. You mumble out a quick “I’ve got this handled” before moving around him and slapping the greasy-haired asshole.

The sound reverberates through the bar and effectively catches Penny’s attention, and without another thought she’s wringing the bell. You don’t disrespect women or members of the navy in her bar, and from the way both Bradley and Natasha are glaring down at the man in front of them, she’s guessing he did both.

Two naval officers appear out of the sea of people and roughly grab at the guy’s arms, dragging him from standing in front of you, Bradley, and Natasha to landing in the sand outside the bar’s parking lot.

Penny locks eyes with you receiving a smile and giving one in return before directing her attention towards Bradley, who’s glare is still transfixed on the door where jersey shore was thrown to the wayside.

Penny frowns and locks eyes again with you nodding her head towards Bradley before turning her attention back to serving the crowd that has formed at the back of the bar.

You take a step towards him and grab his arm, giving it a subtle squeeze. Bradley breaks his glare from the door to meet your sparkling eyes, and just like that his anger melts away and he refocuses on getting his girl a drink. Nat had started another round of pool with a naval officer so Bradley decided to bring you with him up to the bar, finding one stool unoccupied and allowing you to sit while he stands and waits.

Not much is said between you two while you wait for their drinks, the sound of Billy Joel’s “uptown girl” muffled by the chatter that has resumed throughout the bar.

Bradley’s eyes are scanning the bar, while yours are focused on Penny who is putting the final touches on your drink. And before you know it another fuzzy naval is placed in front of you, along with a brand of Natasha’s favorite beer. With both drinks finally accounted for, Bradley grabs your hand once more and makes the journey back over to Nat.

Casual conversation ensues between the three of you for a few more hours before Penny calls out to inform you that she’s closing up for the night. Bradley closes out his tab for the night and you guys make your way out to the parking lot.

Nat is still walking towards a vehicle that has pulled into the parking lot when she turns her head lazily to face her two best friends, “well, it’s been fun troublemakers, but I need to get back to the base. Early morning and all.” She waves a hand out to them and a small smirk spreads across her face before she calls out, “Rooster, don’t forget what I told you earlier!”

Bradley gives her a mock salute before she’s hopping into the vehicle and riding out of the parking lot.

You look over to him with a goofy smile on your face (possibly from the amount of alcohol you’ve consumed in the past few hours), “what’s that all about?”

Bradley looks down at you and laughs at the ridiculous look on your face. Hooking his arm around your shoulder he leans down towards your ear and whispers, “you wanna walk the beach a little, before I bring you back to your place?” effectively avoiding your question.

Your eyes light up at the idea and you immediately b-line it past the Hard Deck and towards the pitch black sea. Bradley shakes his head before bolting after you, “Hang-on speed racer!”

Giggling erupts past your lips, “hurry up Roo!”

Bradley’s smile faulters for a second as his heart lurches in his chest at the new nickname.

He finally reaches you and grabs for your hand yanking you back to him. You’re all giggles and messy hair with a light flush on your cheeks, definitely from the alcohol.

You place your hands on his chest, feeling the warmth through the white t-shirt lying underneath his Hawaiian button down. Classic Bradley.

“You know my callsign for all of five hours and you’re already shortening it sunshine.”

You push your body away from him, only keeping one hand in his as you lead him further down the beach, “I like it, it’s cute.”

“That is not what callsigns are for. But I’ll let it slide just this once.”

“I don’t know, I’m quite fond of it, Roo” you smile back at him this time, clearly teasing. Teasing is always easier than admitting your feelings after all.

“Makes me think of that cute little kangaroo from ‘Winnie the pooh’. Oh! And you’re tall, and kangaroos can be tall!”

“So, what I’m hearing is, you think I’m cute and tall.” Bradley teases.

You blow out an exasperated breath, “No Bradley, I said that kangaroos are cute and tall.”

“But I remind you of a kangaroo from Winnie the pooh?”

“Yes.”

“And kangaroos are cute? And can be tall?”

“Yes.”

Bradley quirks a brow up at you, “So, by association of being nicknamed after a kangaroo. I’m cute and tall.”

You scrunch your nose up at him, “Not everything is about you Bradshaw.”

You let go of the hand you’re holding and continue your walk forward, hyper focused on the ground as you walk.

“I’m taking it as a compliment anyway.” He states, following after you.

After a few minutes of just ambling down the beach in comfortable silence Bradley decides the two of you should probably start heading back to his bronco.

He quickens his pace to reach for your hand and is once again pulling you back towards him.

Being slightly tipsy though doesn’t forebode well with trying to stay balanced and you manage to trip over your feet, falling into Bradley. He stumbles back trying to keep the both of you upright before he loses his balance as well and is falling into the sand.

“Shit” you breathe out, “Are you okay?”

Bradley has one hand on your waist and one hand cupping the back of your head.

“I’m fine sunshine, are you okay?” eyes currently wandering the expansion of your face checking for any signs of pain or visible injuries.

“Well, I was fine until you pulled me down. I was looking for seashells,” a small pout forming on your lips, Bradley’s eyes instantly falling down to them.

“I’m sorry, I just wanted to ask if you were ready to go home.” He whispers out, afraid that whatever spell your under right now will be broken at the mere mention of leaving.

“You coulda just asked? Didn’t have to pull me to the ground to get my attention.” you mumble out.

“I don’t know about that sunshine; you were pretty focused” fingers playing with the fabric of your dress. “Besides, I think I have a great view right now.” His eyes have moved from your lips back up to your eyes.

A beat passes. Your cheeks are flushed pink and you’re painfully aware that you’ve been laying on top of him for longer than what can be considered normal, but you can’t move. He’s pinned you to where you’re at with his honey brown eyes and you’re positive you can’t move away.

You’re holding your breath above him, he’s too close. Too close for you to pretend that you only see him as your best friend. And the way he’s looking at you right now, isn’t helping.

Closing your eyes, you take a breath in, “You’ve gotta stop looking at me like that.”

And then you’re making an attempt at getting up and off of him.

Bradley’s eyebrows furrow before he’s catching your arm and pulling you back down to him. Your eyes are still closed.

“How am I looking at you?” he whispers.

“Like you can see my soul.” You suck in a breath and open your eyes; fuck it, “Like I’m the only person you want to look at for the rest of your life.”

Exhaling the breath you’d been holding you murmur, “and I can’t sit here and continue to pretend it doesn’t do anything to me when it does.” You look up and out towards the sand dunes that lead back over to the main road.

You really don’t want to hear the rejection, let alone see it.

Completely prepared to get up and off of him again you’re about to do just that, when he lets out a small chuckle.

A few tears begin to form in your eyes as you begin to whip your head down to tell him off for being a fucking asshole when you see that he’s still looking at you with the same adoration on his face.

Bradley’s bringing your face closer to his, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear, “sounds about right then” he whispers, lips ghosting over your own.

Five seconds is how long it takes for you to understand what he just said before he’s slotting his lips against yours.

The world feels like it’s stopped and the only thing grounding you to it is Bradley and the feeling of his lips caressing your own.

The kiss is tender and sweet, there’s no rush or clashing of teeth, it’s calm and patient. Like the love you’ve had for each other that’s been building over the years. His hand that had a hold of your arm has moved to cup the back of your neck, keeping you close, where you belong. Your body once cool from the sea breeze, now feels as though it’s on fire as you melt into Bradley; his mustache tickling your top lip.

Bradley sits up bringing you with him as the two of you explore each other’s lips for a couple more seconds, before you’re breaking the kiss to get some air. Leaning your forehead against his, you smile, eyes still closed.

Bradley has his own smile on his face as he nudges your nose with his, “Only took eighteen years of being best friends, but we got there.”

You let out a short laugh, “Speak for yourself, I was ready for you to kiss me when I was sixteen.”

Bradley lets out a chuckle, “I think we need to make up for lost time then, shouldn’t we?” he mumbles against your lips.

“Definitely” you whisper before capturing his lips with your own.

You pull away again all too soon for his liking as a groan leaves his lips, mouth chasing after yours.

You laugh, running your fingers through his soft curls and he lets out a hum, “I still wanna know what Phoenix said.”

“Calling Nat by her callsign now huh?” He pecks your lips trying to bring you into another long kiss, before sighing out an, “Okay.”

“She told me to grow a pair and ask you to be my girlfriend. Said something about how she couldn’t keep dealing with all of the sexual tension.”

“Which speaking of by the way, I love this dress on you.” his hand bunching up the material around your waist as he says it.

Giggling you lean forward again, catching his lips, letting out a hum of appreciation, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Bradley leans back and looks you in the eyes again. You’re glowing brighter than the moonlight shining down on you right now, and if the sun was out he’s certain you’d be shining brighter than that too.

“Do you wanna go on a date with me?” a confident look has settled across his face as he bites his lip, waiting for your answer.

You hum again, looking over his shoulder in mock contemplation. Head moving from side to side in an attempt to look like you’re weighing your options. Bradley squeezes your sides earning a squeal from you as you try to block his hands.

He stops long enough for you to catch a breath and look back over to him, “Yes” you breathe out.

His lips quirk up into a surprised smile, “yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Bradley surges forward towards you again and brings you into another blinding kiss.

He breaks the kiss this time, before murmuring, “Any chance I can stay at your place tonight?” his tone hopeful.

“Keep kissing me like that and I don’t think I’ll ever let you leave.” you smile.

He grins at you, “That’s the plan, sunshine.”

Oh My My My

#bradley bradshaw imagine #bradley rooster x reader #bradley rooster bradshaw #top gun fic #slow burn #miles teller #topgun maverick #mutual pining #bradley bradshaw x female reader

638 notes · View notes

lovemadethemdoit · 10 months

Text

Hangster FIC RECS (complete fics only!) 🤠💘🐓

There are some high-quality long fics in this fandom and I’m sharing my faves with you because I’m nice (and selfish and want these authors to write more fics, duh.). Promise me one thing though? If you read a fic off my list and love it? Leave a comment for the author. They’ll be PSYCHED and write more. Possibly.

Okay, let’s go. More than 30 hangster fics for you to read. 😍😍😍

Under the cut. Feel free to reblog this post far and wide to energize this fandom, too!

********* wanting (18641 words) by bottledyarn

Additional Tags: Angst, Enemies to Lovers, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Unrequited Love, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Internalized Homophobia, Pining, Banter, Slow Burn, Getting Together, First Kiss, Suicidal Thoughts, Jake "Hangman" Seresin Needs a Hug, Canon Timeline, Canon Compliant, POV Jake "Hangman" Seresin, Emotionally Repressed, 5+1 Things, Sort Of, 6+2 things, Jake can't emote and I can't count, Character Study

Summary:

Six times Jake Seresin assumes Bradley Bradshaw is something he can want but can't have, and how he learns the truth.

Jake Seresin is very good at a few things. Flying, obviously. Pissing people off. Wanting things he can't have.

But he's never been very good at dealing with Bradley Bradshaw.

During the mission, Jake is just trying his best to be better.

***

hold me through the shakes (7477 words) by spiritsontheroof

Additional Tags: Hurt Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, Mentally, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Post-Canon, Pining Jake "Hangman" Seresin, Exes, Getting Back Together, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Nightmares, Canon-Typical Violence, it's like. lightly discussed, Angst with a Happy Ending

Summary:

Bradley spills hot coffee on his hand three days into their post-mission leave.

It’s not until he can’t get the bandage over the blister that he realizes his hands are shaking.

***

I Long For You (To Hold Me Ardently) (10265 words) by perishablealex

Additional Tags: POV Jake "Hangman" Seresin, Canon Compliant, Light Angst, Pining, Kinda?, Smut, Getting Together

Summary:

“We don't have to talk about it.” His eyes dart away from Bradley’s face, afraid that they will betray just how much he wants to talk about it, that they will reveal the vulnerability Jake feels in that moment, caught in a momentary suspension of time. The moment feels unreal with the golden light pouring over piano tiles long forgotten in his childhood, the man at his side that feels close enough to reach but not quite hold, the way that time stretches like molasses, sweet yet torturously slow and thick.

“I think we should, don’t you?”

Or: Rooster and Hangman sleep together after the mission without realizing that it may not have been meaningless for either of them.

***

No One Can Find The Rewind Button (71073 words) by FabuMazX

Additional Tags: Mpreg, Hurt/Comfort, Getting Together, Slow Burn, Accidental Pregnancy, Mentions of miscarriage, IceMav are the best granddads

Summary:

It was only one night. But that's all it takes, isn't it?

Bradley and Jake are on good terms since the mission. Friends even. But they're not together, not like that. So why the universe decided to force them together with an unexpected surprise is anybody's guess.

***

something to be sheltered (19075 words) by MayWilder

Additional Tags: Found Family, Post-Mission, Meet the Family, Beau "Cyclone" Simpson is a Softie, Jake "Hangman" Seresin Needs a Hug, Jake "Hangman" Seresin Has Daddy Issues, Married Tom "Iceman" Kazansky/Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Temporary, no beta we die like goose, Father-Son Relationship, Light Angst

Series: Part 2 of Feels Like Home

Summary:

“My wife has asked that you join us for dinner tomorrow night,” Beau says carefully.

“Your wife, sir?” Jake’s brow furrows. “Why would she like to meet me?”

“She thinks its important that my mentee sees a healthy work-life balance.”

“I’m your mentee?” Jake teases, smirking lightly. “And you talk about me enough that your wife wants to meet me?”

“You can continue to be a pain in my ass,” Beau sighs, looking up at the ceiling. “Or, you can take the offer of a free dinner with a beautiful and intellectually stimulating woman.”

“Oh, I definitely want to see this side of Cyclone,” Jake grins. “Domesticated.”

“You’re bordering on impertinence.”

“Me? Never.”

“Let’s go back to when you respected me and my position.”

Jake appears to settle down, but only slightly. He clears his throat and squares his shoulders. “I’d be honored to attend dinner with your family, Admiral. Just tell me a date and time.”

*** or, Beau Simpson didn't mean to adopt a fully grown naval aviator, but, you know; shit happens.

***

flames look beautiful (if you forget what they can do) (8359 words) by Ravens_Words

Additional Tags: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Hurt Jake "Hangman" Seresin, Protective Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, Protective Jake "Hangman" Seresin, Protective Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, Idiots in Love, Getting Back Together, Background Relationships, Hints at IceMav, Hints at BobNix

Summary:

Bradley Bradshaw returns to consciousness with a gasp, hand going to his side, where a searing pain makes itself known.

"-ster, hey," Jake snaps, holds his face in both hands and forces him to look his way, "breathe."

Bradley does as he's told, as painful as it is, and his vision clears somewhat. Jake's crouched beside him, concern etched on his face, and what happened comes back to him in flashes.

The mission going sideways at every possible turn, seeing Jake's plane get shot down in the sky, the less than smooth emergency landing in the woods that followed.

***

Won't somebody help me chase the shadows away? (48614 words) by LoveMadeThemDoIt

Additional Tags: Jake Seresin Has Daddy Issues, Homophobia, Emotional Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Found Family, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Jake POV, Bradley POV, Protective Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw, Protective Javy “Coyote” Machado, Protective Natasha “Phoenix” Trace, Self-Denial, Jake “Hangman” Seresin Needs A Hug, Threats of Violence, Blackmail, Homophobic Slurs, Dissociation, Training Accidents, Jake is in the hospital at some point but he’ll be fine, Bradley makes sure Jake gets sleep, navy inaccuracies, Closeted Character, a dusting of IceMav, Beau „Cyclone“ Simpson is a softie, First Time, Anal Sex, Bottom Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw, Post-Canon, Gay Jake "Hangman" Seresin, Bisexual Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, Jake "Hangman" Seresin Has Bad Parents, Angst, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Self-Worth Issues, Happy Ending, Slow Burn, the movie plot is maybe three paragraphs at the beginning but this is POST-CANON

Summary:

Jake has no illusions he’ll come back from this mission. He’s the best fighter pilot the Navy has got on staff and this is not his ego talking. He’ll fly the mission, and it’ll be a shit show, because none of them have even managed to fly the simulation in the way they need to.

In his weaker moments, Jake wonders if his father is how he’s gotten this gig.

***

baby, I'm howlin' for you (87473 words) by hangmanbradshaw

Additional Tags: Werewolves, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Supernatural Elements, Full Shift Werewolves, think teen wolf meets twilight meets vampire diaries, Vampires, Witches, Werewolf Hunters, it's got all the things, they can shift but any romance stuff happens as humans fyi, Slow Burn, POV Alternating, Protective Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, Possessive Behavior, also there's alphas and stuff but it's not abo, Angst with a Happy Ending, Eventual Smut, Arranged Marriage, kind of, Also this takes place in like a medieval setting a la game of thrones, rut but not the sexy kind more the cuddly kind, Hand Jobs, Smut, Mating Bites, Accidental Voyeurism, Kinda, Top Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, Bottom Jake "Hangman" Seresin

Summary:

His smirk widened. He may not have been happy about this, but he could appreciate that Bradley gave as good as he got. “I am good, Rooster. I’m very good.”

Bradley stared at him, expression battling between annoyance and what appeared to be a slight amount of amusement and intrigue. Jake continued, “Say, how does a werewolf get the nickname Rooster anyhow?”

Bradley raised an eyebrow. “That’s none of your business.”

The Wolves & Foxes AU

***

When you're ready (45445 words) by The_Splendid_Wren

Additional Tags: I know you all saw it too, Idiots in Love, Hangman is actually not a dick, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rooster POV, Father-Son Relationship, Maverick is just trying to make Goose proud, Phoenix is a bro, Lots of staring into the scenery, Eventual Smut, Finally I have a reason to obsess over Top Gun again, References to Canon, Post-Canon, did i mention Hangman is a momma's boy?, not beta read we die like men, Slow Burn, Homophobic Language, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Smut, Therapy is good for everyone

Summary:

After the suicide-mission-that-wasn't the pilots of TOP GUN go their separate ways to enjoy a much earned week of leave. Rooster is set to spend his time with Maverick in an attempt to rekindle their familial relationship but it gets complicated when unresolved trauma from nearly dying keeps him from truly opening up. With a host of other issues like his unknown next assignment and his feelings for a rival paralyzing him, he truly has no idea how he ends up at the Seresin ranch house in Austin, Texas with the object of his desires right in front of him.

Or, Rooster is suffering PTSD and his friends and family try to help him. Whether that's getting therapy or confessing his very deeply buried feelings remains to be seen.

***

I will love you, dear, forever (17574 words) by FlowersOnMyMind

Additional Tags: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Omega Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, Alpha Jake "Hangman" Seresin, Explicit Sexual Content, Jake loves Bradley so much, Dagger Squad, Found Family, Anal Sex, Anal Fingering, Rimming, Pining, mentioned icemav - Freeform, brief bobnix, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Pining Jake

Summary:

"Do you have someone to take care of you?" Jake asks.

"Are you offering, Seresin?"

"Are you asking, Bradshaw?"

Jake and Bradley help each other through their ruts and heats.

Jake pines.

***

You Love Him, and No One Else (50269 words) by Sceld

Additional Tags: Pining, LIKE TOO MUCH, Mutual Pining, Sharing a Bed, just a collection of tropes because I Am Cringe, Domestic Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Mostly Fluff, Internalized Homophobia, oh yeah and lots of it, very gay, derogatorily, Family Issues, Idiots in Love, idiots in general honestly, i hate it too don't worry, First Dates, but unofficially, Bad Cooking, Meeting the Parents, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Past Child Abuse, not graphic though, Slow Burn, First Kiss, Baking, Hopeful Ending

Summary:

“I’ve got it,” Jake offers, holding his hand out, but Rooster only tuts disappointedly.

“What kind of host would I be if I made you carry your own bag?”

Jake blanks on a response, his mouth twisting into a smile without his permission. Rooster turns to where Jake can now see the Bronco. Its engine is still running, and it’s warm inside when Jake closes the door behind him, clicking on his seatbelt by feeling along while he stares intently at the glove compartment in front of him, waiting while Rooster puts his bag in the boot. He doesn’t feel as weird as he thought he would, as he probably should. Every conflicting feeling from the F-14 is returning in waves. He’s helpless to resist the pull of the tide. It’s terrifying and exhilarating all at once.

or;

Jake's apartment floods and his only other option is to stay with the last person in the world he wants to spend time with. Shenanigans ensue.

***

there's money for the taking (and the happiness we all deserve) (64769 words) by thegeckbros

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Sugar Daddy, Age Difference, it's 10ish years, Past Drug Addiction, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Angst with a Happy Ending, Power Dynamics, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Casual Sex, author built a very elaborate world for like no reason, Tags May Change, Humor, or at least i like to hope, Explicit Sexual Content, Daddy Kink, like it’s a sugar DADDY au so it comes w the territory but still it’s there and it’s heavy

Summary:

“So, what, one of the richest dudes in New York wants to be your sugar daddy?”

“Kinda?” Jake sits back up, straightening up and turning his body towards Javy. “He doesn’t want like sex or anything. He just needs someone to pretend to date so his uncle and PR team get off his back about his reputation.”

a sugar daddy au in which jake is a struggling law student, bradley's a billionaire, and they weave a tangled web

***

Speak Softly, Love (67000 words) by Renai_chan

Additional Tags: Mafia AU, Iceman is a Mob Boss, Bradley is his heir, Icemav adore Jake, goose and carole are alive because i said so, Violence, Blood and Injury, tags to be updated as I go, Tattoos, Suit Kink, Lingerie, Rimming, Polyglot Bradley, Gun Violence, Revenge

Summary:

Jake leaves behind his crappy life in Texas and moves to California. There, he meets Bradley, a gorgeous man who works at a charity helping the homeless. They fall in love, and everything is sunshine and rainbows until he learns that Bradley is, in fact, Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, heir to the empire of his godfather, Tom "Iceman" Kazansky, who rules the underbelly of Los Angeles with ice-cold ruthlessness. Suddenly, Jake find himself embroiled in the dangers of the LA Mafia

***

Forever your begonia (17576 words) by MerielTLA

Additional Tags: Idiots in Love, Enemies to Lovers, Secret Crush, Secret Admirer, Flowers, Language of Flowers, Jake "Hangman" Seresin is a Little Shit, Texan Jake "Hangman" Seresin, no beta we die like goose, Jake needs some romance in his life, Rooster is bad at feelings, unrequired required love, Emotional Constipation, This came out of nowhere, don´t blame me, Ice is alive, Tom "Iceman" Kazansky Lives

Summary:

“This is not for me.” Mickey grinned like a fucking maniac as he held out a small envelope for everyone to see, pointing at the signature in it.

Jake.

The blond felt his world tilt as he frowned at the offending four letters of his name. What. The. Fuck. He pulled the card away from the other´s hand as he looked at the fancy lettering in horrified amazement.

“Oh my GOD! Bagman has an admirer?!” Paybay yelled

Jake Hangman Seresin had never gotten flowers...until he did.

***

hanging on to ambiguity

(34033 words) by

haridwar

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Lifeguard Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, Surfer Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, First Aid, Head Injury, Mutual Pining, Protective Javy "Coyote" Machado, Protective Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, Miscommunication, they're bad at talking again, Angst with a Happy Ending, POV Multiple, Breaking Up & Making Up, Implied/Referenced Sex, Tom "Iceman" Kazansky Lives, Married Tom "Iceman" Kazansky/Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, Drunkenness, drunk Jake is a mess, Natasha "Phoenix" Trace is So Done, Hurt Jake "Hangman" Seresin, Jake "Hangman" Seresin Has Daddy Issues, Parental Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, Unhealthy Relationships, you might not like Bradley in this one (but you can still love him), Hospitalization, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Hopeful Ending, everyone gets therapy

Summary:

an accident on the beach, a lifeguard to the rescue, and the repercussions of an unexpected reunion

***

it seemed so natural, darling, that you and I are here (20181 words) by haridwar

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Pilot Bradley Bradshaw, Las Vegas Wedding, Accidental Marriage, Drunken Shenanigans, Memory Loss, the inherent awkwardness of having a crush on the guy you're married to, Javy "Coyote" Machado is a Good Friend, Bradley gets his own Javy to hang out with, Sexual Content, Jealous Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, POV Alternating

Summary:

“Did we really do this?” Bradley asked. It was the first thing he had said since Jake’s brainwave and Jake was not a fan of how upset he sounded. “Are we- did we get married?”

or: what happens in Vegas...

***

you were almost too much for me (9648 words) by haridwar

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Alternate Universe - Bodyguard, Bodyguard Bradley, Past Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw/Jake "Hangman" Seresin, Returning Home, Post-Break Up, Love Confessions, Jealous Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, Wealthy Jake "Hangman" Seresin, Arguing, Reconciliation, Hopeful Ending

Summary:

Jake’s ex works for his father and that complicates things when he heads back home after The Mission ***

Men Like Us (41265 words) by DancingDisaster

Additional Tags: Breaking Up & Making Up, Getting Back Together, All aboard the Bradshaw-Seresin Shitshow Extravaganza, Idiots in Love, Ice Lives By Popular Demand, A romantic dramedy about two Idiot Flyboys

Summary:

Seresin men love with reckless abandon. It’s put every man before him in the ground.

Jake refuses to be buried.

He flies like he has nothing left to lose (he doesn’t), a one man army (he is), leaving everyone else in the dust (so they don’t leave him). Admiral Kazansky claps him on the shoulder, says he expects great things from him, and Jake’s smile is feral as the rest of his flight school cohort looks on in disbelief.

Hangman, they all say, like Jake’s entire personality was a long con, and he ranks first in class.

Rooster doesn’t look at all.

(They've got history spanning the better part of a decade and they are absolutely, positively not over it.)

***

like shooting stars (12737 words) by bottledyarn

Additional Tags: Fluff, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Anxious Jake "Hangman" Seresin, POV Jake "Hangman" Seresin, Texas, Texan Jake "Hangman" Seresin, Domestic Fluff, First Kiss, Getting Together, Soft Jake "Hangman" Seresin, Post-Canon, Just a little pretend relationship, as a treat, Only One Bed

Summary:

“Well," the gate agent said. "Only uniformed military members and their spouses can board priority, but—”

“That works out,” Bradshaw said, his voice tinny and distant in Jake's ringing ears. “Because this is my fiancé.”

If Jake hadn’t been able to choke down a piece of toast this morning, he thought he might be light-headed enough to just pass out right then and there.

Jake is trying to fly home for Thanksgiving and not have a panic attack on the airplane. Bradley is trying to skip town and spend the holiday in a mountain cabin to distract from another Thanksgiving alone. Between the two of them, they might both get where they need to go.

***

learning steps (20530 words) by vannral

Additional Tags: Friendship, Getting Together, Oblivious Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, Idiots in Love, Pining, POV Outsider, Instructor!Bradley, Teaching, Protective Jake "Hangman" Seresin, Students, Reunions, Eventual Sex, Happy Ending

Summary:

”So, an instructor?”

A straight hit. Bradley shifts uncomfortably on the leather seat and clears his throat. ”… Yeah.”

In which Bradley becomes an instructor after the mission, Jake keeps showing up to his classes and his students are very curious about their dynamic.

***

unsportsmanlike conduct (16871 words) by ginnydear

Additional Tags: alternative universe, NFL, Enemies to Lovers, Bickering, Minor Injuries, Sexual Content, tweets as a plot device, everyone's alive because I say so

Summary:

He didn’t expect there to be highlight reels of him and Jake Seresin arguing and jawing at each other after their first game against each other. His Uncle Mav’s recorded it, saying it’s the beginning of his long, successful career - to have a rival.

Bradley thinks it’s a pain in the ass.

or - the hangster nfl au

***

one foot left, and then we're going down swinging (15944 words) by SaintClaire

Additional Tags: Dagger Squad, I put Hangman through the washing machine, but he's fine he comes back out, Tom "Iceman" Kazansky Lives, this is my sand pit, Found Family, life affirming kissing but everyone's pants stay on, for now, attempted abuse of barnyard poultry (not by Hangman), the horse lives, uhhh I don't think this is whump because I kiss it better, but if not let me know, damn good piloting skills, everyone has emotions

Summary:

“I’m still here.” he says, because it helps Bradley to be reminded sometimes. For all he’ll mouth off about Jake never shutting up, the sound of Jake’s voice can get him to drop the rigid set of his shoulders and relax, sit a little easier in the cockpit. “Still on your wing, Roo, just a little further away than normal.”

Jake gets shot down on a mission, tracker blown to smithereens and on his own in enemy territory. The thing about Hangman is that he might be a damn good pilot but that means he comes with the bloody-mindedness to see his shit through. He's got a family to get back to.

***

all my roads lead back to you (17094 words) by liadan14

Additional Tags: Secret Relationship, Secret Marriage, nonchronological storytelling, Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw Needs A Hug, Jake Seresin Needs A Hug, Communication via interior design, Accidental Marriage, the inherent romanticism of joint financial decisions, Alternate Universe: they weren't exes during the movie, they were just very bad at being a couple, Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Size Kink, Jake pavlovs Bradley into having a size kink, just trust me on that last one, outsider pov, Relationship Reveal, Polyamory Negotiations, implied threesome, Implied past Icemav, Current Mav/Penny, Maverick about extremely unhealthy relationships: it was acceptable in the 80s, Penny and Bob are vying for the only braincell in the team championship

Summary:

“Where does this leave us?” Bradley asks eventually.

Jake snorts. “In what way?”

Bradley shrugs. “I don’t know. Emotionally, physically. Legally.”

Jake thinks he might be dizzy. He hasn’t drunk that much tonight, but he has been wondering about the answers to that question for a long time. Finally talking about it…it barely even feels real. “Let’s start with the last one,” he says. “That sounds like the easiest part.”

“Well,” Bradley says gamely. “Legally speaking, I think we’re, like, one piece of paper away from being married.”

***

never had a heart to mend (3735 words) by un_familiar

Additional Tags: Miscommunication, Cheating, (but not really i swear), Angst with a Happy Ending, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Misunderstandings, sorry this took a month to write thats embarrassing, Post-Canon, what do you call pining when youre already dating them, sorry about this (lying)

Summary:

Bradley won’t stop looking at him with concern, laying kisses on his bare back and asking softly, “Are you okay,” until Jake wants to scream You know what you’re fucking doing to me, but he can’t or he won’t and he’s never felt this helpless in his life. The best he can manage is a soft, “Just tired,” turning back into Bradley’s embrace and thinking God, just let me keep this.

***

of a feather (2501 words) by lilgreyarea

Additional Tags: Kid Fic, Halloween, Trick or Treating, Fluff, Post-Canon, Getting Together, (kinda), idk it’s just cute fluffy nonsense

Summary:

jake and his three-year-old daughter, sophie, run into bradley while trick-or-treating

***

The death of piece of mind (27595 words) by MerielTLA

Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Tom "Iceman" Kazansky Lives, Rooster is bad at feelings, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Amnesia, I blame the title song, Protective Jake "Hangman" Seresin, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Injured Rooster, no beta we die like goose, Miscommunication, Fluff and Angst, Fluff, It was supposed to be heavier but it evolved on its own, Hangster, sereshaw, IceMav, Alternate Universe - Post-Canon

Summary:

Last time he had seen Jake, had been fourteen months ago. More than a year since Bradley had escaped, like a coward, and had completely lost contact with the man his body missed with a strength that terrified him. The man that had been there for him as he had woken up, disoriented and scared. The man that had taken care of him, as he fought against his ruined leg and a fucked-up mind.

The one he had abandoned, at the first chance he got.

The man that was his husband, the one he didn’t remember.

Or Bradley left after losing his memory and forgetting his relationship with Jake, but now he has begun to remember and it's time to get his hubby back. ***

How do you like your coffee? (23355 words) by WaffleToaster

Additional Tags: Memory Loss, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Accidents, Falling In Love, Idiots in Love, Fluff and Smut, Sex, Established Relationship, Developing Relationship, Injury Recovery, Tooth-Rotting Fluff

Summary:

Javy receives the first call after Jake makes an emergency landing on the tarmac and Bradley has to deal with the complications that arise.

“Do we get along now?”

“We do, yes. We’re.. good friends.”

“That’s good. Cause you seem like a nice guy, Rooster.” ***

lover be good to me (18920 words) by haridwar

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Baker Bradley, Long-Distance Relationship, Birthday Fluff, like literally so much of it, this one is super birthday centric, Strangers to Lovers, Married Tom "Iceman" Kazansky/Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, as per usual, Parental Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, POV Jake "Hangman" Seresin, Soft Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, Sex Toys, Relationship Reveal

Summary:

Jake picks a random coffee shop to go be pensive in when he receives a birthday card he doesn't want and things turn out better than he ever could have imagined

***

you hang me up, unfinished (with the better part of me no longer mine)

(13140 words) by un_familiar

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Getting Together, Romance, Eventual Happy Ending, Angst with a Happy Ending, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Character Study, javy is the best friend ever, POV Jake "Hangman" Seresin, Jealousy, eventually, complete and total abuse of italics, Pining, the absolute minimum research went into this, do not look too closely at it!, Jake Is A Menace All Of The Time, javy and natasha are sick of them!, Miscommunication, Eventual Fluff

Summary:

There are a million things standing between Jake Seresin and his soulmate–gender, Jake’s tendency to overthink and run his mouth, the fact that his soulmark is high up on his ribs, hidden, the bruises his dad leaves, but the biggest one is probably the simple fact that he has no idea how to love. ***

Got to Make It on My Own (14196 words) by Renai_chan

Additional Tags: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha Bradley, Omega Jake, Alpha Javy, Accidental Bonding, Drunk Sex, Ex-Somethings, One Night Stands, The Inherent Dubiousness of ABO, Platonic Sex, Javy is the BEST Bro, Marking, Biting, Bonding, Being an asshole as a coping mechanism, Jealous Bradley, Knotting, Idiot Men who Don't Communicate, Angst, Happy Ending

Summary:

Jake and Bradley spend one night together under the heavy, heavy influence of alcohol. It does not go well. But it goes worse for Jake than it does for Bradley because he wakes up with a bonding bite and his new alpha nowhere to be found.

When they're recalled for a special training detachment eight years later, Jake finds out that Bradley doesn't remember giving him the bite at all and Bradley finds out about it for the first time.

It still does not go well. ***

the long way home (5982 words) by nocturnelight

Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Post-Canon, Parental Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, Parental Tom "Iceman" Kazansky, Tom "Iceman" Kazansky & Pete "Maverick" Mitchell Raise Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw, Tom "Iceman" Kazansky Lives, Married Tom "Iceman" Kazansky/Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, Established Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Jake "Hangman" Seresin Needs a Hug, Healing, Therapy, And love communicated through scrambled eggs

Summary:

Jake and Bradley had come in late last night and settled into the guest room of Maverick and Iceman’s beach house. Jake had driven them both up at Pete and Tom’s insistence after Mav’s voice on the phone and Jake’s hand running up and down his back hadn’t been enough to get Bradley to stop shaking when he’d woken up screaming from a nightmare.

He's hoping being there will be good for Bradley, maybe finally get him to talk about how he's been feeling. Because Bradley's the one who's bottling everything up.

And Jake is perfectly fine. He swears.

ENJOY READING! LEAVE COMMENTS FOR THE WRITERS. WOHOO!!

#hangster #sereshaw #hangaroo #top gun maverick #fic rec list #fic recs #hangster fic recs #fanfiction

303 notes · View notes

bougiebutchbinch · 6 months

Text

On Izzy Hands

Popping this on this blog too, just so it'll show up in the tags... My superior alternate suggestions for a S2 ending are under the cut. We all know I'm right.

Honesty Hour time. The reason we were all like 'I bet he's going to die' is because WHENEVER a character has a cool redemption arc OR a queer character comes out and experiences genuine queer joy for the first time in their life, their mortality rate goes up by 90%. But it was such a disappointment to be proven right.

I think we all expected better of the writing team. They've committed to doing genuinely new and interesting things with this story in the past, rather than just trotting out tired old tropes! But... not in this case.

People say they want more Zuko-esque redemption arcs, but we can't have that if every character who was A Bit Of A Dick at first gets killed off. And... c'mon. The whole arc of Izzy finding a family in the crew, and healing after being abused awfully for ages, and finding happiness, and openly embracing his queerness and disability.... then just randomly getting shot by a dude? Not even as a dramatic 'protecting someone' sacrifice? He just randomly got shot?? And we're all supposed to feel sad about that rather than just kinda let down?

Yeaaaaah, I do not think they achieved what they were going for.

I understand that a lot of that was because they had to shorten the series SO MUCH more than they wanted, but still.... it would have cost nothing to let Izzy just sail away with the rest of the crew as the Captain of the Revenge, while Ed and Stede retired!! It felt kinda like they were building towards that all season! Hell, that would've been a more meaningful progression for all of their characters.

We could still have had the scene where Izzy tells Ed he has family and that he's loved! We could've had a fake-out death where we had all the drama and expectation that he would die! Then in the last scene he comes out as the new captain to officiate Lucius and Pete's wedding!

We'd have Ed and Stede letting go of Blackbeard for good and building something new together on land - but we'd also have Izzy finally moving beyond the 'Blackbeard' persona he helped Ed create (and, arguably, did more for than Ed!). He'd be a captain who actually gives a shit about his crew, but who has learnt from Stede and Ed the importance of being a bit softer and gentler rather than brutally efficient 24/7. He evidently already admires Zheng (the face journey he goes on when she downs the big guy at Jackiez is ... it's sure something!) and I want a million more hours of them interacting. I bet they could be a super-funny duo. Plus, he could inevitably drag Stede and Ed back in next season! And get revenge on the prince who shot him!

It would've been perfect.But no, they had to kill him off because the OT3 potential was too strong, and bury a career pirate on land. Meh.

I'm tempted to watch the next season, if there is one, just for Olu/Jim/Archie/Zheng, but I can't say I care that much about the writing anymore. I won't be crying if the show does stop here, but I will be crying over everything that could have been!

#izzy hands #ofmd #our flag means death #ed teach #stede bonnet #ofmd meta #blackbonnet #steddyhands #ofmd s2 spoilers #ofmd spoilers #dizzy izzy #izcourse

94 notes · View notes

h-c-u · 1 year

Text

Showing the ropes.

Summary: You're away at a conference at a different timezone, and Maverick is a bit tied up at work.

Pairing: Pete "Maverick" Mitchell x reader

W/C: 2.2k

Rating: +18, phone sex, bondage, butt plugs, dom/sub,

TWs: Bodily Fluids

A/N: No plot. Not even if you squint your eyes and turn your head to the left. And yeah, I'm on the sub!Maverick train again xD Also, I'm definitely not admitting to what I was listening to while I was writing it, but let's just say, I discovered a whole new side of Spotify.

Masterlist | List of tags

You couldn't help but smile when you saw a familiar name and a picture showing up on your phone. You were already done with today's courses and planning to take a nice, relaxing bath after being on your feet for almost 10 hours, so you definitely didn't mind talking to your husband for a minute or two. Especially when you realized that he was calling from work because it would have been too early for him to be off duty. And that only meant one thing...

- Please... - his pleading whisper was the first thing you've heard.

- No hello, no "how was your day?"...? - you didn't try to hide the disappointment in your voice, and he groaned on the other side of the line. - Such a desperate slut... Putting his own needs above basic social etiquette... - you sighed loudly.

- I need to take everything off and out... I have to fly with the class... - well, at least he wasn't stupid enough to ask you to cum, because you were very clear about him not being allowed to do that on his own while you were away. And yet he called you...

- Hmmm... You know that in situations of life and death, you can do what's best, but you called me... I advise you to think about your next words carefully. Does the harness impact your moves in any way, putting you or anyone else in any danger? Be honest, I won't be mad, I just want the truth, because I don't want anything to happen to my sweet boy... - he was silent for almost half a minute.

- No... - he whispered finally.

- Does it distract you so much that you wouldn't be able to focus on what you're doing and by so, putting yourself or others in danger? - you continued the interrogation.

- No, ma'am... - he replied and you could almost taste the shame coming from the other end of the call.

- How about the plug, does it make it uncomfortable to sit in the jet...? - you suspected that it was it because you instructed him to choose one of the biggest ones you had.

- No, ma'am... - he repeated, but you still were able to tell that something was off.

- Does it distract you so much that you're having trouble focusing...?

- Yes, ma'am... - his voice barely a whisper, yet it rang pleasurably inside your head.

- Tell me exactly how it distracts you... - oh, it was going to be so much fun... You leaned back in your chair and put your leg on the edge of the desk.

- It puts constant pressure on my g-spot... And I can't sit or suddenly move without leaking... I had to put on a cage as well, ma'am... - you couldn't help but hum, but you haven't decided yet if it was something you approved of.

- I didn't tell you to do that. - your tone was as neutral as possible because you were planning to react to his reaction.

- I'm sorry, ma'am, but I was so hard it was too visible through my pants. And I changed them to darker ones, so the leaking wouldn't be as visible... - even after all those years, he could still surprise you. He was willingly putting himself in more pain, just so he could follow the instructions you left him to the best of his ability.

- I'll let it slide this time... But let's come back to that plug - where are you? - you asked, and slowly slipped one of your fingers in between your folds, gently teasing your clit in anticipation of the obscene sounds you were about to hear.

- In my office. - he replied even before you finished asking the question.

- Doors? - after all, he was still a high-ranking member of the military. Who was occasionally your perfect little whore.

- Closed. - he was indeed prepared.

- Hmmm... How long do you have? - his response would determine your next course of action.

- About 15-20 minutes, ma'am. - that last word put a smile on your face. You never liked the word 'mistress', it was too dirty for your liking, but a well-placed ma'am from his mouth... You could get drunk on it.

- Harness stays, but we're going to do something about that plug, love... So you will still be able to think in the air... How does that sound?

- Thank you, ma'am. - you could feel the obvious relief in his voice. You knew that he knew that if he truly had to take everything off and out, you wouldn't even mention it.

But he called.

He wanted you to listen to his whining while he was putting on a show, like a stripper begging for attention...

- Don't take it out entirely just yet... I want you to fuck yourself on it and make all those beautiful little noises so that everyone can hear what a slut you are. And if you help me cum before you'll have to go, I might even let you finish too... - you didn't have to be there to know exactly what his face looked like. - Chop, chop, we don't have all day... - you smiled and patiently waited as he put the phone on his desk. You could hear the zipper of his pants opening and you knew exactly when he took off his underwear because you could hear a light jingle of the small paddle lock that was keeping the chastity cage locked. - Slowly... - you didn't have to say it, because he knew what was expected of him.

At first, there was a slight groan, that told you he started to pull out the plug and got to the widest part. After all those hours without moving it, you knew that his muscles weren't as stretched as in the morning and that it would be more painful for him. You also knew from the experience, that there was still lube inside him, so as soon as he'd start moving it a bit more, everything will become more pleasurable.

He moaned loudly and you could just say that the plug went back in and rubbed this sweet bundle of nerves inside him, that made him sing so beautifully. He slowly picked up the pace, and so did you. His moans became more needy and desperate with every second and you just loved to hear them... And the soft cries in between them when he was actively stopping himself from cumming. You could almost see the long line of precum slowly heading towards the carpeted floors from his swollen and locked in a metal cage penis, and if you were there you would have definitely licked it, just to hear him get even more desperate.

- Faster... - you didn't have to say anything more... You were leaning back in your chair, two fingers inside you, while your thumb intensely massaged your clit. His moans became louder and started fogging up your brain with an obscene image... It wasn't hard to see how plump and red his lips were, because he had a habit of biting them when he was getting close, and he was close for quite some time now if you were to believe his words earlier. Poor thing must have been on edge since he left the house. His cheeks were definitely flushed and red, and his eyes looked as if they were made of glass, because of the tears that appeared in them out of frustration. One of his hands closed tightly around the edge of his desk so hard, that his knuckles would get white, and the other behind him, holding a flared base of a plug he was using to fuck himself... He would definitely be leaning forwards, his caged cock maybe even bumping the desk from time to time, if he bucked his hips too harshly... Or maybe he was even completely bent over the desk, wishing that it was you who was fucking him... Hmmm... That was a nice image... But since you couldn't lay your hands on him now, a harsh, thin jute harness that hugged his upper torso under his shirt had to be enough for him to feel your presence for now. And you could almost see the light red marks it left on his skin, rubbing against it for a whole day... Not tight enough to actually impact his movements, but enough for him to feel you with him through the whole day.

You could hear his desperate, soft cries and longing moans, mixed with your name and empty promises of what he'd do if you just let him cum, telling you how sensitive he is just for you... He knew exactly what to say, what notes to play to help you get off. After a particularly sharp inhale and a whimper in a much higher tone than usual, you bit your lower lip harshly, because the image of his desperation in your head was enough to push you over the edge. It wasn't the strongest orgasm ever, but it definitely relaxed your muscles. Plus you didn't exactly plan on cumming today...

You looked at the timer on your call; there was still a couple of minutes left until he'd have to hang up, and since he was such a good boy today...

- Pete... - your tone of voice was surprisingly neutral and devoided of emotions, even though your cheeks were flushed. - Cum for me, honey... Let me hear it... - and he did, almost instantly. Oh, how you wish you were there to see it, to lick his cock over the metal cage and taste him on your tongue. And the sounds he made... Beautiful, delicious, if only you could drink them straight from his lips... After a moment you could hear his breath calming down, and after even a longer moment of silence, you could hear his last loud moan and a quiet thump of something falling to the ground

- Thank you... - he mumbled, still out of breath, and you smiled.

- You know what to do, I'm waiting... - there was just one more thing and you didn't have to wait long for your phone to vibrate, indicating that you received a new message, which you opened almost immediately. - Good boy... - and you could see exactly how fucked out he looked, and it was beautiful. He was practically laying on his desk, cheeks red, eyes full of tears that were dripping on some papers... he didn't take his shirt off, but it rode up, so you could see just a little bit of a thin brown rope peeking from under it on his back, and when you zoomed in, you could see how the area around it got all red and irritated. And then another picture came, from a different angle... you could see his gaping hole, stretched around nothing, and a thick line of cum dripping on his underwear on the floor, while his dick was straining painfully against steel restraints.

- Just for you, only for you... - he whispered in a breathy, still trying to collect his thoughts.

- Hmmm... Are you good? - and you didn't mean that in a sexual way. You truly wish you could be there with him, and fortunately, your job didn't require longer trips often.

- I will be in a minute... - he replied and you could hear a huge smile on his face.

- Good. You can leave the plug out, but you're not allowed to clean yourself. I want you to remember what a needy whore you are through the whole day, and sit in the mess you've made. - since he had chosen the dark pants today, you knew that it wouldn't be visible, and besides - he was about to be alone in his jet for a few hours, so there was a very low chance of him actually being caught.

- Yes, ma'am. - he didn't even care, still lost in his relief.

- You have to get going, baby, they will be waiting for you... - you knew that he knew that, and yet he still allowed himself to enjoy that relaxed state. You also knew that if he needed, he'd come up with a perfect excuse, but you didn't want him to have to do that.

- I don't want to hang up yet... I want to listen to your voice for a bit longer... - you couldn't help but laugh.

- Awww... Such a needy baby... - you finally put your phone down after you finished studying every detail of the photos he sent you. - You look so good splayed out on the desk like that, not even caring that someone might knock on your doors any second, or just barge in and see what a slut you are, fucking yourself and cumming on a plug just because your wife told you so... And they wouldn't be able to think about anything else when they see you... Would you be wearing one during class...? Or at the navy balls...? That might actually be an idea. For you to have a nice, pink, vibrating egg inside while you're in this white uniform of yours. And you wouldn't even be able to control it... - he groaned, and you knew what that meant. - Go get ready, honey... And send me some nice pictures after you'll get home... I want to see that harness and the marks it left when I wake up.

- Yes, ma'am. - he replied almost on instinct. You didn't always have this dynamic, but it was something that was extremely easy to slip into, for both of you.

- I love you, Pete... - you said just before you hung up.

- I love you more... - he replied and the call ended.

#my writing #tw: bodily fluids #⛓#🔌#🎤#🥪#📞#🔥#Top Gun smut #Top Gun Maverick smut #Pete Mitchell smut #Pete Maverick Mitchell smut #Maverick smut #Pete Mitchell x reader #Pete Maverick Mitchell x reader #Maverick x reader

165 notes · View notes

babybatscreationsv2 · 9 months

Note

could you write starkercest where trans m peter is super upset and doesn't know how to touch himself and gets help from his dad?

I sure can!

Tw: Discussion of pre-op trans masc body parts but with masculine terms, unspecified age

He's so horny that it hurts. A genuinely, un-ignorable, pain burns inside him and there's no stopping it. It's not like he has a real dick to jack off right? What the hell is he supposed to do about it? Peter turns over in bed and whines, squeezing his legs together. He grinds his hips and humps against the mattress and for a moment it feels good, but then it doesn't and he just sobs. He falls asleep at an hour so late that it's early. Morning comes and he doesn't feel any better. Maybe he should call his doctor.

"You okay, Pete?" his dad asks while they're getting ready in the morning. He feels like death, like he's about to drop, but he grumbles out a response.

Tony sets down his coffee mug and looks at his son. Peter turns his face away. "What's wrong, kid? You haven't been sleeping. Is something going on?" There's a long pause. "You can talk to me you know."

"No, I can't," Peter hisses. He glares at the man. He has no idea. He couldn't possibly. "You don't know what it's like to have this stupid fucking body that doesn't do anything it's supposed to!"

"Maybe not, but I can help more than you think. You have to talk to me, kiddo."

"Oh just teenage boy problems right? Only I don't have a dick to jack off with so I'm just stuck like this!" He turns away again, face red, no less aching down below. That's what's really fucked up isn't it? He's having coffee with his dad while all he wants to do is cum.

"Oh course you have a dick," his dad says. Peter just looks at him, wondering if somehow he forgot his own son is trans. "Come here."

He gets up from his seat, rolling his eyes, but hoping just maybe this is going somewhere helpful. He stops in front of his dad. He's in just a pair of gray sweats and his hair is still damp from the shower. He smells like warm cologne.

"Lose the boxers."

Peter's taken aback, but when his brain processes the command he does what he's told. The kitchen air is chilly and that's when he notices that he's wet. He hates yet somehow noticing makes the heat worse. His dad can't smell it too can he? Yikes.

"That looks like a dick to me, kid." Peter looks down between his legs. There, just poking he could see what his dad was talking about. His 'dick' was engorged, maybe half an inch long. It definitely wasn't the same, but maybe he meant that he could treat it the same...

"Come here." His dad reached for him, turning him around so Peter's back was to his chest. "Let me show you. I know the movies all make it seem like you need certain equipment for this kind of thing. But you've got everything you need right here."

Tony's hand runs down the front of his t-shirt. He doesn't stop as he reaches his hips, passes them. He hovers just above his dick and the heat inside him screams. He wants to cry, he wants to sob, and then a finger just brushs his dick and he can't describe the noise that comes out of him. He grabs onto his dad's arm. His feet spread apart. An arm wraps around his chest to hold him in place.

"That's a good boy," his dad purrs. Peter whines as his finger rubs slow circles over his wet dick. His hips move without his control, he can't stop whining, he's begging 'please, please' and he can't stop it. And then the burn explodes in tingling pleasure down his legs and into his belly. He moans, leaning back in his dad's arms.

"See. It's nothing daddy can't take care of." Tony kisses the top of his head. As soon as Peter catches his breath he realizes the burning is back again and he sobs.

"Dad, please. I need more." He licks his dry lips. Wet is running down his thighs and he doesn't care. The kitchen reeks with the smell of him.

"Let me teach you so can handle it yourself. I don't want you not getting any sleep."

Peter nods as his dad takes his hand. He guides him to bring his middle finger to his dick and rub, not too much pressure, circles, nice and slow and then faster. He's panting with his mouth open, hips rocking, eyes half shut. He feels like a whore and that's hot too.

"My good boy," his dad tells him. "You're doing so good. That dick feels nice now that you know what to do doesn't it?"

"Yeah, yeah," he pants. He feels his insides clench. Then he's seeing stars. His nerves are vibrating. His dad holds him until he settles.

"Better?"

"Yeah. Thanks, dad."

Tony kisses the top of his head again. "Anytime, kid."

#ask #anon #prompt fill #trans!peter #starker #starkercest #marvel

95 notes · View notes

earlgreytea68 · 9 months

Note

Heaven, Iowa.. if ur willing/have the time! Would love to hear some thoughts 💜

I loooooove Heaven, Iowa. I know Pete says this is a song about drinking a screwtop bottle of wine and driving off a cliff, but this is a song about drinking a screwtop bottle of wine and being in love, and staying there, in your own little bubble. That's how I read this song. It's one of those classic FOB songs with classic Pete Wentz lyrics working on one level with a perfectly expected and stereotypical interpretation and simultaneously working on a whole other level that deepens and complicates the entire narrative of the song.

Okay, so, first, that opening line: 6 AM, Mulholland Drive, "Moonlight Sonata" and I. First of all, shut up, this is so evocative in so few syllables and it kills me. Second of all, as others have pointed out, it should grammatically be "Moonlight Sonata and me," probably, unless it's intended to be the beginning of a sentence, and that's actually how I read the whole first few lines, as cut-off sentences.

Moonlight Sonata and I --

(wait, hang on, let me try this again):

First movement, you and I and a screwtop bottle of wine --

The use of the pronoun "I" instead of "me" in those phrases implies the beginning of a sentence, but the end of the sentence never comes, you never hit a verb. To me, it's like the speaker is so full of feelings that they can't be articulated, he's speaking in snatches.

Also, "first movement" is so clever, hahaha, the first eleventy million times I listened to this song, I thought it was a clever Moonlight Sonata reference, you know, first movement of the Moonlight Sonata, and then I wrote that fic based on these lyrics and Pete's sitting in the car in the fic debating making the first move and I suddenly was like, "omg first movement," like, it can also be making the first move required, who makes it, you and I and a screwtop bottle of wine will help move things along. Ugh, he's so smart about such silly little things like that all the time.

ANYWAY, then you come to honestly the sexiest image on the whole album: "I've unspooled on the floor." Ugh Pete. This always makes me think of the whole meme about how bisexual people can't sit in chairs normally. Pete totally would just sprawl out on the floor while he drinks wine. (I often write Pete sitting on the floor on my fics and now you're going to notice that, now that I've said it.) Also, though, "unspooled" is just a great poetic word there, you have an exact image of falling-apart-ness and letting-go-ness that no other word would have achieved. It connotes the unraveling of something that is ordinarily tightly wound -- that is supposed to be tightly wound -- and the unraveling causes a special kind of tangled mess, but also a loose sense of release.

"I feel so A Star Is Born" is a lot, given the plot about discovering and encouraging an incredibly talented, younger singer by a person who's already kind of a big shot. So there's that. Also the fact that Pete when writing these lyrics was around the same age as the Bradley Cooper character in the film, which makes this line feel about wondering about reputational decline and artistic legacy (which Pete thinks a lot about in his lyrics, anyway, but never in quite as tragic terms as this). The "would you read my eulogy" line fits with that "Star Is Born" reference: I'm not worth it, but will you tell everyone good things about me when I'm gone? Which also connects to: Tell me when the party ends, will you still love who I am? WHICH ALSO, in the mythology of Fall Out Boy, is a weighted metaphor anyway. In Pete lyrics, the party is often life, with the afterlife taking the place of the afterparty, so this can be another death reference. But also, inevitably parties ending make you think about "Where Did the Party Go?," and so then this becomes a hiatus reference: "When everything is stripped away and it's just us, do you still love me then?"

"I will never ask you for anything except to dream sweet of me," is just a straight-up line from a love song, which is important, because to me this entire song is a love song, and that line betrays it so very clearly. The speaker is never, ever alone in this song, there is constantly a "you and I," someone to kiss his cheek, someone to read his eulogy, someone there after the party ends. (Even when there's not a someone, there's the Moonlight Sonata still with him, and I'll get to that later.)

The chorus is "Scar-crossed lovers." I've seen people talk about how emo and goth an image that is, and I get it. The "scar" reference seems like it makes it emo-er than the usual saying, which is "star-crossed." So on one level, sure, how Pete Wentz to turn the word "star" into "scar," of course, once an emo, always an emo, etc. But I actually think changing "star" to "scar" converts a hopeless saying into a hopeful one. Because "star-crossed lovers" means lovers who can't hold it together. The original star-crossed lovers were Romeo and Juliet. Certainly not a happy ending for them. But these in this song are not star-crossed lovers. They are scar-crossed. Scars are actually healing. They are the body's kintsugi, to use a reference from another song. If you've got a scar, sure, it means you've been through something, but what it really means is you got through it. You came out the other side and you healed. These are not lovers who can't get it together. These are lovers who came out on the other side of the apocalypse.

The same multi-layered meaning exists in the next line: "I'm checking myself out forever." Sure, on one level, this sounds negative: I am gone, I'm leaving. But the thing is: What is he leaving? It's actually not entirely clear. I don't think it's the relationship he's leaving. I think it's the rest of the world. And not in a bad and depressing way. He's like, "Look, I have found something real here. You see all this nonsense, all this chaos, all this drama? I am checking myself out of all of this forever." This goes nicely with the next line: "I'm saving this all for later," which can also be read on two levels, one being, "I'm checking out of this nonsense, I'll deal with it later, I'm staying in my bubble with my love." Another being, "I am here in this bubble with my love and I am going to remember every second of this." After all, "save for later" means something you want to make sure you return to. That line, "Here we are untouched forever" also supports a positive reading of the relationship. It could be read as, "Now we no longer exist, we are only enduring in my memory," but...nowhere in the song does that seem true of this relationship. The relationship is very present throughout the song. When he says "here we are untouched forever," I think he's talking about this bubble he's retreated into, away from the rest of the world.

And that reading goes into the second verse, too, where he refers to himself as being "gone like this." This could be read as really dark, given the Star Is Born reference. But it could also be read as: I have checked out of everything and I am holed up with my love and just everyone wait to see how much they're going to miss how much I was doing and holding together. "Talking to the mirror," (I am the invisible man...) -- "Half your life you've been hooked on death." This seems like an obvious reference to Pete Wentz's reputation, but it's in quotes, like he's quoting other people, like he's telling himself, reminding himself what people think of him. Because that's not who he is.

This last bit of the second verse is so fascinating to me. "Twice the dreams, but half the love, be careful what you bottle up, the chemistry is a mess it seems," these are all negative images and negative lines, warnings and self-recriminations. And then there's that unexpected "But me, I'm still a sunbeam." Patrick is usually the sun in Pete's lyrics, the sun is usually something outside of Pete. How shocking and strange for Pete to suddenly write that he's the sunbeam, and for Patrick to give it a melodic flourish to boot. That could be Patrick giving that to him: "Don't worry about your chemistry, you're definitely loved." BUT, it could also be Pete finally, finally internalizing what Patrick says to him all the time: "YOU'RE the sunbeam. It isn't me. It doesn't matter how you feel like you're too much, it doesn't matter how much you feel like you bottle up, it doesn't matter how much you feel like a mess, you're still amazing, you're still a sunbeam." Ugh, the amount of healing in this song. Scar-crossed, indeed. The bridge could be read as flipped, from Patrick's perspective, and that works, but, tbh, that bridge can also be read as Pete closing his eyes inside the bubble he's created with his love, and there's darkness in this, but the love's glow is right there, so soothing, leading him home, a beacon. When Pete closes his eyes and shuts the rest of the world out -- there, there's the glow, giving him that little shove he needs to keep going: Shake things up, see what comes down, write another album with me, send me some words, we've got this.

This song rises to unbelievable heights by the end of it, like, it is sonically overwhelming, but then it loops around to the same soft rhyme as the beginning, Patrick crooning once again. It begins and ends with the speaker and music. In the end, the thing that has always been there for them: the music.

Also, the fact that Moonlight Sonata is the reference is so interesting in the context of Patrick being the sun in Pete's lyrics. If Patrick is the sun, that makes Pete the moon, catching his reflected glory. Moonlight Sonata, indeed.

This song is full of yearning, but at no point do I feel sad for this guy. He's gonna be okay. His love is right there with him when the party ends.

#peterick #fall out boy #fob

48 notes · View notes

softtdaisy · 2 years

Text

ALL YOUR BEAUTIFUL LIES - PETER PARKER

DESCRIPTION I peter hates lying. but how is he supposed to tell the girl he loves the truth about her dead boyfriend?

PAIRING I tasm!peter parker× fem!reader

WORD COUNT I 3,7k

A/N I it feels sooo good to write for Peter again I feel in love with him every single time. I really hope you will love this story 🤍

WARNING I mention of death

Lying was never the right solution. Peter knew it.

But from day one, he knew he was doomed with you. Because there was no way he could tell you the truth.

Peter met you a few months ago when you started working at Oscorp. Not only were you smart enough to deal with important projects there, but you were so nice that people weren’t scared to ask you for advices. It didn’t take long for the employees to appreciate you. And you quickly got known there as the girl that was dating Reid, one of the main managers in Peter’s sector. More specifically, they saw you as the one who managed to get his heart when he was seen as the hottest single person there. Girls were trying to have dates with him.

You had him in your bed.

Some of them were jealous, but most of Oscorp just saw you as a cute couple. You always had little intention for each other and were waiting for the other before leaving at night. Peter often compared the smile on your face when you were with Reid as the sun. You were illuminating the whole room when you were there.

Which, clearly, wasn’t the case today. Nobody excepted you to smile at your boyfriend’s funeral, anyway.

Peter had to be there, for you. Even if you weren’t the closest friends at work, it was inconceivable for him not to come and show you his support. You always had a nice word for him. You asked him about May more in a few months than anybody there in years. Peter felt noticed when you were there, like you were really seeing him next to you. And maybe Peter had a crush on you too, which mean his heart would never have allowed him to skip this funeral.

However, as Spiderman, he knew he shouldn’t be there. It wasn’t right.

“Thank you for being here, Peter.” He jumped when he heard your voice, too lost in his mind to notice you were coming to him. He hated that you didn’t have that bright smile on your face today. He hated that you were so sad your eyes were constantly red and so was your nose. He hated that he saw at least ten people giving you a hug to comfort you.

He hated that, it was partly his fault that you were sad today.

“I couldn’t leave you alone today. Not that you are alone! I saw your friends there, but…” Typically of Peter. He was so nervous around you that he got lost in his thoughts and words. But at least, he managed to make you chuckle slightly and it was worth every gaffe he could make. You stopped him by hugging him. You needed a hug more than anything. And somehow, seeing Peter here was comforting. You appreciated the boy, and it meant a lot for you to see his face in this crowd of mostly unknown people.

You were still in Peter’s arms when you let your mind talk, maybe for the first time since Reid’s death. “I can’t believe what happened, it doesn’t make sense.” You looked up at Peter. You were so confused that you didn’t notice he froze when you started talking about the accident. “What was Reid doing on the rooftop? Why did he jump? And what was Spiderman doing there if he couldn’t save him?”

Even if he was prepared for you to say his alias, Peter still jumped a little when he heard the way you said it. With some kind of bitterness. Like you were blaming him for your boyfriend’s death. Peter wished he could say something, but nothing was coming to his mind to save him.

Instead, he focused the people’s look on you two. He could easily imagine what they were thinking, seeing you in someone else’s arms at your boyfriend’s funeral. That was the reason he let you go suddenly and took a step back. “I…I have to go.”

You frowned, confused at his attitude’s change. “But call me if you need to change your mind!” Peter simply said before walking away. You guessed he left because of Reid’s friends looking at you, that was what you thought when you noticed their look too.

You had no idea that guiltiness was eating Peter alive.

And because you didn’t know about his feelings, either about Reid’s death or his crush on you, you indeed called Peter to hang out with you. You started during the week off you took because Oscorp reminded you of too many memories. You couldn’t deal with everyone’s pity look on you or the way they would try to be nicer with you because of your loss. But at the same time, you absolutely didn’t want to be alone. So, Peter went out with you to the grocery store or accompanied you on walks.

More than having company, you appreciated Peter’s presence by your side. There was something comforting about that boy. Maybe it was his gorgeous brown eyes that were so sweet it made you feel like you were the prettiest thing they ever look at. Maybe it was his big arms that made you think that nothing could ever happen to you, especially when Peter would put one over your shoulder to keep you close in the crowd. Maybe it was his laugh that made your day so much lighter every time you heard it.

Or maybe it was Peter in his entirety, the way he made you feel special during difficult times.

What you liked, too, was that Peter was always ready to come to you. You maybe took advantage of his kindness when you needed it. Like this one night you felt terrible after coming back to work. You texted Peter and asked him if he wanted to come to the cinema with you. “Sure, I’ll pick you up.” He replied, without asking about the movie.

The thing was, after spending a whole day surrounding by people who looked at you with sad smiles, you felt like the whole world was trying to make you feel bad. Especially considering you were slowly moving on Reid’s death.

For some reason, when Peter arrived and during the whole walk to the cinema, you felt like he was pitying you. And he noticed how you were distancing yourself from him. Peter really thought you had learned the truth. And for the first time, he realized how much he cared about you and how insufferable it would be for him to lose you. “What’s going on?” he finally asked you, grabbing you by the hand to prevent you from going away.

You didn’t answer at first. But when you looked at Peter, and interpreted his confused look for a sorry one, you couldn’t keep it to yourself. “I feel like the whole world knows I’m trying to move on and try to make me feel guilty with sad and pity looks. And you too!” you said, pointing a finger at him.

Peter was even more confused. “Me?” if one person had to feel guilty, it would be him. Why would he shame you? “I’m not pitying you, I’m encouraging you to keep going with your life.” He had this sweet voice he was using when he wanted to calm things down. He was doing that when you were crying in his arms, saying you should have noticed Reid’s behavior and he was convincing you it was never your responsibility.

“Sure,” you rolled your eyes at this answer. But when you made a step forward, Peter pulled on your arm to bring you closer to him. He didn’t control his strength and you ended up against his chest. You were both breathless for a few seconds, looking at each other with a mix of excitement, desire and fear.

Peter slowly brought his other hand to your face to brush your hair away. “I’m not pitting you.” He whispered, giving you a small kiss on the lips. One that you could easily think you imagined. But one that you appreciated. Because even if Peter noticed your wish to kiss him, he didn’t take advantage of it. He just proved you he wanted it just as much.

“Should we keep going? We’re going to miss the ads.” He had this playful smile that meant ‘let’s pretend nothing happened.’ A smile that was hiding all his stressful feelings. And yours, at the same time. You still needed time before settling down with someone new, even if a part of you already knew that it would be with Peter. The only way you found to prove him you were not giving up on the idea was to hold his hand during the movie. You felt like two teenagers in love, but you didn’t care. You needed to discover love again, like it was the first time.

You opened yourself to the situation the more you were seeing Peter. From small dates to bigger one and weekend outside of the town, you accepted that maybe it was right for you to start a new relationship. Especially with someone so caring and gentle like Peter Parker. You thought that after what you went through, nothing could go wrong.

Until one day, you noticed the blue and red suit in his closet. You didn’t mean to; you weren’t curious about Peter’s life to the point you would look for things he wasn’t talking about. You just wanted to hang the jacket he landed you. You didn’t except to find the biggest secret someone ever kept from you.

Or what you thought, at that moment, was the biggest.

“So, I called the restaurant. We can be there at…oh.” When Peter entered the room, he immediately knew what was going on. He didn’t need to look more into it. He knew exactly where he had put his suit when he came back yesterday. He never planned on hiding it. He never planned on you coming here, in the first place.

There was so much to say and yet Peter couldn’t open his mouth to defend himself. His voice was gone and his thoughts off.

When you turned around, Peter saw your red eyes and the expression on your face. It was a mixed between anger and deception. Something he knew he deserved from keeping things from you. “How…how could you lie to me?” your voice was already broken and it broke Peter’s heart. Because you were already this miserable with just the sight of the suit, he couldn’t imagine how you would be once you learnt the truth. “You know what happened that night.”

It hit you right when you said it. After months of wondering why Reid had killed himself, you realized that Peter, who was always there to comfort you and tell you it wasn’t your fault, knew what really happened and why he did that. Then, you realized something else. “And you didn’t save him.” You let your first sob out. You couldn’t believe that New York’s favorite superhero couldn’t save your boyfriend. “Why? Why Peter!” you screamed, walking fast to him to hit his chest.

Peter was still silent while you were hitting him harder and harder. He wished you could hurt him physically so he could feel the same pain as you. He wished you would hit him harder or use anything else that would harm him for real. But he knew that you wouldn’t even try, you were too nice for that. “It’s more complicated than you think…” were the first words he said. And of course, you laughed. It was a nervous and angrily laugh.

“More complicated than what, Peter? What is more complicated than you watching Reid fall to his death and not trying to save him?” Every time you were saying that, Peter could see him fall again. And again. Desperately wishing there was a way to save him. But it was too late.

“Reid isn’t…wasn’t who you think he was.” These words stopped you from hitting Peter. You frowned and took a step back. No, he couldn’t be using that pathetic excuse of you didn’t know him. Because it wasn’t true. You were dating Reid; you knew that man perfectly. There was no way you didn’t know anything about him. No?

“And so what, hm? He was cheating on me? He had a double life? Another wife? Children maybe? What was he hiding Peter, go on tell me!”

As much as Peter understood why you were angry, it was eating him alive not to tell you the truth. But could you handle it? He was trying hard to fight the words that wanted to escape his lips, to prevent you from being even more hurt. But you were pushing him harder and harder that at one moment, he couldn’t fight anymore. “He was working at Oscorp to make an immortal cure, ok!” Peter heard his own voice, the way it was harsh like a teenager fighting his parents and telling them mean things. He wished he could have been, at least, gentler when telling you that.

“No! You’re lying!” you were now screaming through your tears. You didn’t want to believe Peter. He couldn’t be right. Reid wasn’t the bad guy. If one person was supposed to be, it would be Peter for not saving him.

Since you couldn’t handle the situation anymore, and didn’t want to hear more of Peter lies, you left his apartment. And he didn’t try to prevent you from doing so. If he was you, Peter wouldn’t believed a single word either. He knew you needed time. So, he watched you leave his place. Maybe his life.

He wasn’t surprised when you didn’t come back to work. Neither was he when he learned you resigned from Oscorp. He guessed that not only did it reminded you of Reid, but now it reminded you of Peter’s betrayal too.

For a month, Peter didn’t hear from you. And he gave you the space you needed to think about that mess. He was 99% sure that you would never speak to him again. Which is why he was quite surprised when he saw you standing in front of his door, one night. You said a simple hi before he invited you inside. And you didn’t speak until you put the folder you brought with you on the table. “Tell me what you knew about Reid’s plan.”

“I saw Reid one night at Oscorp. I had left earlier because I had a mission and I needed to get my stuff back. I thought nobody would be there, it was…10 P.M. I think or something like that. But then I saw Reid. He was working on an experiment, and I thought he was just making extra hours. I wasn’t supposed to be there, and he was the chief, so I didn’t make any noises and just took my stuff. But while I was ready to leave, I heard him grunt. I thought he hurt himself, so I ran there, and I stopped right before the door. That’s when I noticed he had injected himself with something.”

“When I came back the next day, Reid called me in his office and told me he knew I was there. Told me he heard some noises and when he didn’t see anybody, he looked at the cameras. So not only did he saw me, but he saw me as Spiderman. I thought I would be in trouble, but he asked me to stay that night to help him. I didn’t want to but my curiosity was too high, so I stayed and that when he explained to me what he wanted to do.”

“He told me he had lost his mom a few months ago and he wanted to work on some immortal cure, something that would prevent people he loved from ever leaving him. He was working on it, and he was testing it on himself. He offered me to take part of it since I had something special in my veins, blablabla. I refused because…well, I already went on that road, and it didn’t end well the first time. He didn’t argue he just asked me to not say anything to anyone, specially not you.”

“But I kept an eye on his project. There was something wrong with this, we are not meant to leave forever. I guess as long as Reid was working on himself, I didn’t mind. But the…the night he died, I got called at Oscorp. Reid was there. He had this arrogant look, very proud of himself. He wanted to tell me that the cure was effective, that he wanted to prove me that I was useless. I thought he just wanted to prove he was superior, and I was ready to let him think that. I didn’t care. Until he told me he was going to test it on you that night, because there was no way he would let such a pretty girl leave him.”

Peter was trying to be careful with his words and look at your reaction. You seemed absolutely calm on the outside, except for your hands grabbing the chair so hard that your joint was turning white. On the inside, you were screaming and blaming yourself for not seeing anything. “Keep going.” You said with a straight voice.

“I couldn’t let him do that. I…I already like you. And if I was ready to let you be happy with someone else, I would never let him hurt you. So, we fought, and I grabbed the flasks with his cure. I don’t know how but we ended up on the rooftop, still fighting for this stupid thing. I told him I couldn’t let him do that, that it was immoral to play with life like that especially with yours. He laughed at me, saying that it was cute to see me fight for my little crush like a teenager. That’s when I broke the flasks above the drain.”

“Reid went absolutely crazy. I thought I could convince him that he should find some help or anything but…he looked at me with that cruel smile. I still see it sometimes. He told me I had ruined his life and that I was going to pay the price. That’s when he let himself fall. I…I grabbed him, I managed to grab him and I thought I could bring him back on the roof. I never meant to kill me or not save him. But he uses some knife or something sharp to cut my webs and while I understand what he did, he was already…down there.”

You couldn’t believe what you just heard. What happened. How your perfect boyfriend was just a monster that wanted to make you his immortal wife. How he was so crazy he tried to steal Peter’s blood. How he would rather die than live forever. How Peter or Spiderman were never the bad guy of the story How…wrong you were about everything you ever thought. You fell on the chair and Peter immediately kneeled in front of you. He grabbed your hand slowly and you let him caress your skin. You needed that.

“I’m sorry for hiding this for you but there was no good way to tell you Reid wasn’t the guy you thought he was. I should have told you the first day, but you were grieving. And I never thought you would like me, and we would start dating, and then it was too late…” you could feel the regret in his voice. And you understood him, in some way. In his situation you probably wouldn’t have been able to tell the person you love how they were wrong about the ex they idolize. So, you gave Peter a small smile.

“I probably wouldn’t have trusted you if you told me before, anyway.” You put your hand on the folder and brought it closer to you. “Now I do. It’s all the research he did for his stupid cure. There were hidden somewhere in the middle of his others documents from work.”

Peter gave one look at the documents. He will probably look more into it once you won’t be there, just to know more about that cure that led to this tragedy. But there was only thing he cared about right now, and it was the person sitting in front of him. Peter kept caressing your skin. He missed you even more than he thought he was. That was how he knew he was really in love with you.

“Do…you want to stay?” he asked with a small voice. He knew there was high chance you won’t want to stay. He still lied to you and it wasn’t because you accepted to come back here to see him that you were ready to start over.

You looked up at Peter. You wanted to. You really wished you could say yes and spend the night with him like nothing happened. But it wouldn’t be right. Because you knew that if you started this too early, you would ruin this relationship. “I’d rather leave.”

Peter nodded. He got up immediately to make you feel pressured to stay any longer. He thought that maybe, letting you leave faster would make you come back quicker. So he accepted to watch you take your bag back and go to his door. He accepted the small kiss you gave him on the cheek to say goodbye. He accepted to watch you leave him, one more time, without being sure that you would ever come back.

But right before he closed the door, you realized you forgot something. “Peter?” You saw his face coming out of the door. He was frowning, curious why you were calling him again. He looked at you walking to him. You didn’t hesitate a single second before putting your hand on his cheek. It was the right thing to do, you knew it. The next second, you gave Peter a simple kiss on the lips. Right like he did at the cinema, weeks ago.

Just to prove him that you still wanted him in your life. You just needed time.

#peter parker #Peter Parker imagine #Peter Parker story #Peter Parker x reader #Peter Parker angst #peter parker x female!reader #tasm!Peter Parker x reader #tasm!Peter Parker imagine #tasm!Peter Parker story #tasm!Peter Parker x female!reader #tasm!peter parker #the amazing spider-man #The Amazing Spider Man #andrew garfield #andrew garfield x reader #Andrew garfield imagine #Andrew garfield story #my writing

267 notes · View notes

mahvericks · 2 years

Text

For anon

Request; please write something for mav there really isn’t enough. Maybe something where reader is a pilot and pretty reckless like mav used to be? And he’s scared of losing them? Angst and fluff 🖤🖤

Warnings; top gun spoilers, angst, a way too long fic, mention of death and funeral, me writing for a man lmao

I got way too carried with this and I have to apologize for taking too much liberty with this, I’m not even sure this could be considered good but please let me know if you enjoyed it😭

As a child, your dream was to fly one of those hig speed plane that the army owned, you had always been in love with the sky and going fast- it was a match made in heaven to become a pilot.

You didn’t come from a military background, that world was completely new to you when you enrolled yourself in the navy to become a naval aviator, your ultimate goal was to get into TopGun to become one of the best pilot out there.

From a very young age, you had taught yourself to never give up and reach your goals no matter how big they were- and that’s what you did when you ultimately graduated of TopGun as one of the best pilot they ever had.

Even before joining the program, you were already starting to have a reputation from the instructors and teammates you had in the past- you were known for your incredible skills but also for being reckless, something that wasn’t consider good when it could cost lives.

You understood that point when it was brought up while you were being scolded by a superior for putting the lives of your team in danger. Putting their lives at risk was incredibly selfish, you knew that, but most of the time, you made sure it was your life that you were putting on the line- not theirs.

Unlike most of your friends and teammates, you didn’t have a family to go back to after a mission, you didn’t have a partner or furry companion and you were barely in contact with your family as they disapproved your career’s choice.

That was the exact reason you didn’t care about not coming back from a mission, if it meant that you could make sure the said mission would be a success, sacrificing your life would be worth it.

However, you didn’t realize that sacrificing your life would soon become a possibility until you were called back to TopGun for a secret mission, all you knew was that only the best pilots that came out of this program had been called back.

When you met everyone that had been called back the evening before going back there, you were surprised that they didn’t seem as intrigued as you were- probably because they were glad to be reunited with people they knew and meet their new teammates for the ones that they didn’t met before.

To say the least, this wasn’t going to be boring as it seemed like some rivalries already existed between some of the pilots. It had happen in your class back in the days- thinking about it, you wondered what they became after graduating.

What truly baffled you that evening was when you spotted who was, in your opinion, the best pilot to ever exist, Pete Mitchell, also called by his call sign- Maverick. You didn’t need to be a genius to understand that this couldn’t be a coincidence, you were in Fallon, the city where TopGun was located, he had to somehow be involved in the secret mission.

The next morning, you were proven right when he showed up as the person who would teach you everything you’d need to know for the secret mission. While your teammates seemed to be amused and underestimated Maverick, you were amazed by the fact you were going to learn from the one you looked up to when you first joined the program.

~~~~~

When it came to showing how good you could do in a basic fighter maneuver by attempting to shoot down Maverick. Going last, you felt even more pressure as everyone before you had failed the challenge- you weren’t surprised to also fail, however you were the one who got the closest to succeed.

During the fly, you were thrilled to be able to challenge Maverick but you didn’t try to impress him, knowing it would be a rookie move and would most likely make you commit an error right away.

Instead, you stayed calm and did what you knew to do the best- be quick and not plan anything ahead. Not thinking before acting had saved yourself more than once, you learnt to trust your gut and that’s what you did once again when you abruptly inverted your jet and slowed down to get right behind Maverick.

What made you fail was that you underestimated Maverick’s reaction time, you weren’t even right behind him that he had copied your maneuver and shot you down. As competitive as you could be sometimes, you weren’t annoyed of your failure, what made you upset was the two hundred push-ups you had to do after.

You spent the whole time cussing at Payback for setting such a stupid bet, Hondo felt bad for you and told you to stop before reaching the two hundred push-ups but that didn’t stop you from fulfilling your part.

It’s only when you finished your last push-up that you noticed that Hondo was gone and Maverick had taken his place- it was the first time you could really talk to him without everyone else around.

Trying to catch your breath, exhausted by your exercise, you sat on the concrete as you asked, “ Hondo got tired of hearing me cussing at Payback, uh?”

“ I think so, yeah,” joked Maverick before adding, “ I haven’t seen many people pull off this maneuver like you did.”

“ Got me in trouble more than once but also saved my life more than once. I hope it was okay for me to do that today- I try not to think too much and just trust my guts when I’m flying.”

“ This challenge was meant to show me what you all could do and I’m satisfied with what you showed me today.”

“ I still lost though.”

Maverick seemed to be somewhat amused by your frowning face as he chuckled, “ so did everyone else but you did good out there.”

“ Thank you, Sir.”

“ No need for such courtesy, just call me Maverick.”

~~~~~~

From that first night at the bar before going back to TopGun, you knew it wouldn’t go as smooth as you had once hoped- from the first day it looked like Rooster held something against Maverick and also had some animosity with Hangman.

Other than that, everyone seemed to get along quite well, you had been quick to get along with everyone, but you would be lying if you said that you didn’t get along best with Phoenix and Maverick.

It was amazing to be able to learn from the one you had looked up the most to during your time in the program- not only you enjoyed learning from him but also loved being around him, you felt understood when you’d ask why it wasn’t possible to push the limits of the jets further since the mission was deemed so important.

You had never felt more free to share your opinion than with him, he didn’t judge or reprimand you- instead he would either agree with you or explain his vision if he didn’t agree with you.

Now, it wasn’t typical for you to be around a superior that much- usually you’d try to avoid them but this time felt different, unless it was during the exercises, it felt like Maverick was a member of the group and not the one to teach.

To ease the tension within the group, Maverick planned a volleyball session on the beach nearby instead of the usual training- you liked the idea especially since it could be fun but you didn’t really get how this would ease the tensions once the session would be over.

Sunglasses on and sunscreen applied, you went to Phoenix’s team, knowing you’d have even more fun with her but in the end, it didn’t really matter as the teams only lasted for two or three rounds before you were just playing all together and simply had fun.

You guys played until the sun started setting down, being the one who scored the last point, even if the points didn’t matter anymore, everyone agreed that you had to be thrown in the water to celebrate it- which you obviously didn’t like.

Warning your friends that you wouldn’t let them thrown you, you did pull a fight, in a joking way, when Rooster grabbed you and started to run towards the water. However, he didn’t expect to be pulled down and fall along with you.

Your move seemed to amuse everyone as they were all laughing at Rooster’s shocked face- it was unforgettable.

After everyone calmed down, they all headed inside The Hard Deck to change into more fitted clothes for the evening besides Rooster and you who had to stay outside until you were both dried up.

Your friend had gotten inside a few minutes ago, leaving you all alone in the night, only lightened by the moon, the light coming from Penny’s bar and the tiny bit of light for the sun that was left- it felt so peaceful, something you weren’t quite used to and you enjoyed it.

“ Hey, is everything alright?”

You didn’t have to turn around to know who had joined you outside, “ yeah, all good- I’m just enjoying how peaceful it is right now.”

“ I get it, sometimes it feels great to be in a quiet place, to be able to enjoy the moment.”

“ Yeah, that’s exactly it,” you smiled, finally turning your head to the side to look at your captain, wondering why he joined you outside, “ why didn’t you stay with everyone else inside?”

“ Well, Penny is inviting us for dinner tonight, are you joining us?”

“ Yeah, sure. I’ll go change up in a bit and join the group. I might go for a little walk before, wanna join?”

Your question was said in a joking way as you didn’t expect him to actually go on a walk on the beach with you, but to your biggest surprise, Maverick didn’t even hesitate to say yes.

The next couple of minutes went by in an enjoyable silence but there was something that you wanted to ask him but you didn’t want to put your nose in someone else’s business and get into some kind of troubles for asking the wrong questions.

Absentmindedly kicking the sand under your feet as you walked next to Pete, you ultimately chose to question him about what you saw earlier, “ I saw the Vice Admiral Simpson and the Rear Admiral Bates talk to you when we were still playing and they didn’t look too happy- are you or are we in trouble?”

“ Did they ever look happy to you? But to answer your question, no one is in trouble, let’s just say they weren’t too thrilled about my idea.”

“ Not that it matters but I think it was really cool- your idea I mean. We had fun and it feels like we’re really a team now, even Rooster and Hangman seems to get along.”

“ It matters actually, I’m glad to hear that. I was hoping it would have this effect.”

Nodding, you smiled ear to ear, happy to know your words mattered, “ we’re a good team and the coolest pilot to ever pilot- I mean what more could the Vice Admiral wants?”

“ Well, the Vice Admiral isn’t too pleased with me being the instructor for this mission, so you might want to say that to him but I’m happy to hear that according to you I’m the coolest pilot to ever pilot.”

Hearing his laugh made you feel like you had just made an accomplishment you were proud of, “ it’s true, that mission might be a suicide mission but with you making sure we’re ready for it, it feels like we might all come back in one piece.”

“ You will all come back alive. No one is going to be left behind.”

“ That’s not how they presented the mission before you showed up.”

Even in the dim light, you could tell how serious Maverick’s face was now as the conversation had taken a serious turn, “ I’m training all of you to accomplish the mission but also to come back.”

“ It’s alright Maverick, I don’t mind the sacrifice if the mission is a success- we all knew it was a possibility when we joined the navy.”

_____

The days were going by way faster than expected and slowly, the set date for the mission was arriving. You weren’t stressed about it, knowing that you’d be ready for the mission on time but today was different.

It was a sad day for the navy, the four stars Admiral Kazansky had passed away after loosing his battle against his cancer. The group formed for the secret mission was his last decision and for that, all of you would be attending his funeral.

You had always hated goodbyes and even if you had only met the Admiral once in the past, it made you incredibly sad to be at his funeral today. It wasn’t the first funeral you were attending of course, but it wasn’t getting easier by any means.

After one last homage to the Admiral and the coffin buried, people went to pay their respects and left to let the family mourn the loss of their loved one.

Staying afar to not bother or disrupt the family, you waited until they all left to join your captain. Holding your hat in your hands, you slowly made your way to the Amiral’s grave where Maverick was, it broke your heart to see him standing still, trying to deal with the reality of his friend being gone.

Maybe you were crossing a line by doing this but you couldn’t help it, you didn’t want Maverick to feel alone to deal with the pain- gently putting a hand on his shoulder, you said, “ I’m so sorry for your loss.”

“ Thank you. I went to visit him a few days ago and I knew it was coming but not this soon.”

“ I know it doesn’t ease the pain to tell you this but he is at peace now and doesn’t suffer anymore.”

“ I know. It’s just hard to say goodbye.”

Nodding at him, nothing you’d say would make it better, only mourning and acceptance would but you knew there was no time for that with what was coming.

At that moment, you thought that showing him your compassion, that you were here for him would be better than just saying it- that’s why you dared to hug him, unsure of what his reaction would be.

As Maverick didn’t seem to be against your move, you didn’t move, waiting for him to speak first and he did, not that long after, “ I don’t want to have to do that again.”

“ What? I’m sorry if this was too far, I thought-“

“ No, not that. I meant having to bury someone I care about, again.”

“ Oh.”

“ I don’t want to lose you, or anyone else during that mission.”

You would be lying if you said that your heart didn’t skip a beat when he said that, “ you said it yourself, you’re training us to come back home.”

“ And I know you, y/n. You’re just as reckless as I am, always pushing the limit a bit further to see what might happen- you have to promise me to not do that this time.”

It was the first time you heard him use your name instead of your call sign and it felt so much more intimate, “ I won’t do anything stupid but you know I can’t make a promise about this mission.”

_____

After the Admiral Kazansky’s passing, things quickly got out of hands and time were running out. Firstly, you learned that Maverick wasn’t the one to train the group anymore but that was until he disobeyed the orders, borrowed one of the aircraft and showed the Vice Admiral that the mission could succeed.

That little stunt clearly wasn’t to the Vice Admiral’s liking but he had no other choice than to agree that the Captain Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell was the only one fit to lead this mission to its success.

A part of you was thrilled to know that he would be leading the group by actually taking part of the mission, especially now that you had been chosen to go with him alongside Phoenix and Bob, and Rooster. But on the other hand, you were scared that he might have to see one of you not make it.

Tomorrow was the so awaited day as the set date had been advanced from three weeks, the enemy’s base was finishing the uranium- leaving you no other choice than to rush the mission before it would be too late.

Everyone had been given permission to go see their nearby family to say goodbye if they wished. Having no one to call or see, you just ended up sitting on one of the bar stool in The Hard Deck, sipping a cold beer as you were still dressed in the white uniform that felt too fancy to your liking.

You were in your own little bubble at that moment, not thinking about anything special but also not listening to any conversation that we’re going on inside the bar, it was just a background noise- you were just there to help pass the time before the mission.

But that was until you saw someone sit on the stool next to yours in the corner of your eyes, you didn’t really pay attention, anyone could sit there- but when you heard the person asks for a drink, you turned your head on the side to see Pete sitting there, wearing the same uniform as you.

“ I’m surprised to see you here tonight.”

You shrugged, it wasn’t a secret that you had no close friends or family around but you didn’t talk about it much neither, “ where else would I go? I have no one else than the team honestly.”

“ I didn’t see you as the lonely type, you seem to go along well with everyone.”

“ Well, I do have friends, I guess everyone in the group can be considered as friends but they all went to see their families, close friends or partners.”

The captain nodded at you, while thanking Penny for the beer, “ I get it, I don’t have much friends neither, they’re either too far away or gone.”

“ At least we don’t have to say goodbye to anyone- I don’t even think my family would care if I don’t come back.”

“ Why would you say such a thing?”

Chuckling bitterly, it was one of the first time you were opening up to someone about why you weren’t speaking to your family anymore, “ we don’t talk anymore, well they don’t want to talk to me anymore- they never accepted that I chose this career’s path.”

“ I’m so sorry to hear that. For what it’s worth, I would care if you didn’t come back.”

“ Thanks, that means a lot to me.”

After these words, a comforting silence settled between the two of you, there wasn’t much to say honestly- at least, without getting too personal. You had been avoiding any kind of personal conversations lately, especially with Maverick, fearing that you might have a slip up and accidentally say that you developed feelings for him.

Finishing your drink, you slid the amount you had to pay on the counter for Penny, wishing her a goodnight, you jumped off of your stool, “ good night Mav.”

“ Already going to sleep, y/n?”

“ Who said I was going to sleep? I’m going for a walk, enjoy the night before tomorrow, you know?”

“ May I come with you?”

You nervously laughed at his question, not sure why he would want to accompany you when he probably had better things to do. Shrugging as you headed to the exit, you replied, “ i don’t own the beach, you can come if you want.”

It didn’t take long before you were joined by Pete- you had barely gotten the time to walk down the stairs to the sand. There weren’t many people on the beach since it was the night, that’s what you enjoyed the most, no one to disturb your little peaceful moment.

“ Tell me what you’re thinking about?”

At that moment, you were glad that the darkness was covering how embarrassed you looked, it was an innocent question but felt so intimate, “ honestly? i’m wondering if this is my last night on Earth. I’ll miss this.”

“ Miss what?”

“ All of this- going on a walk at night, the beach, looking at the sky and the stars, and- well, you.”

You could barely see Maverick’s face in the dim light outside, yet you could discern a smile on his face as if he had been waiting or hoping for you to say something along those lines.

Staying silent, not sure what you could add, especially without knowing what he was thinking at that moment, you were surprised when one of Maverick’s hand gently brushed back a strand of hair that was falling in front of your eyes, “ this is not your last night, we will have plenty of nights like this after the mission. ”

“ We?”

“ Yes, we- if you want this too.”

“ Of course, I want this too but isn’t it wrong? I know the rules and we’re not on the same rank.”

“ They don’t have to know, we’re only assigned for that one mission together, they won’t care after.”

Thinking about it, Pete was right- once the mission would be over and successfully, they wouldn’t care about it, actually they just wouldn’t have to find out, “ you’re right, let’s just wait until the mission’s over so they won’t have to say a thing.”

“ Let’s do that, then.”

You would be lying if you said that you weren’t surprised that Pete agreed with you this easily, you were almost disappointed and even ended up adding, “ but one kiss can’t hurt, right?”

It was just like you both thought the same thing at the same time- it didn’t take more than a blink of an eye for Pete to cup your cheeks with his hands and seal his lips with yours.

~~~~~

The day you all had been training for had finally arrived and you were dreading the moment you’d head back to the carrier after launching the missiles. You had learned today that you’d be teaming up with Pete while Phoenix and Bob along with Rooster would be behind.

You were all set to get into your jet, you just had to wait for the green light to do so, while waiting, helmet in your hands, you were watching the waves loudly crash against the carrier, telling yourself that everything was going to go as planned.

“ Are you ready, y/n?”

Putting your helmet on and securing it, you smiled at Pete, wanting to look confident and reassuring, “ as i’ll ever be.”

“ Be careful, alright?”

“ As much as you will be.”

Now this wasn’t the most reassuring answer you could have given but it was the most truthful you could give. It seemed like it was enough for Pete as he nodded before walking to the aircrafts by your side.

Taking a last deep breath, you climbed inside your jet and got ready to fly. As soon as you were all given the green light, the four jets left the carrier to head to the mountains where the target was located.

When you all got to the mountains, Pete and you followed quite easily the path that had been planned all those weeks ago but Rooster and Phoenix weren’t following close enough as neither of you could see the pair behind.

Through the shared comms, you could hear Phoenix trying to push Rooster to speed up to catch up on the two of you. It was no secret that Rooster had problems with overthinking when he was flying, it had already happened a couple of times during the training.

Pushing the button of the comms, you wanted to try to snap your friend out of his overthinking state, “ hey Rooster, remember what I told you when you asked me how I never hesitated while flying?”

You hated how you were met with silence, there was no one to blame for, only hope that Rooster was listening, “ I told you that I didn’t think, only trusted my guts. I know you can do the same.”

After a few more seconds of silence, you all could hear Rooster’s voice again, “ copy, y/c/s.”

All you could do now was pray that Rooster, Phoenix and Bob would be able to catch up on Maverick and you right in time before the mission would fail.

It didn’t take long for Maverick and you to launch the first missiles and get away from the zone- the second part of the ground was late, and every second passing by was stressing you out a bit more.

However, when Rooster confirmed that the missile had been successfully launched into the uranium enrichment facility, you were all relieved that the mission had been successful- all you needed to do now was head back to the carrier.

That’s when the mission went south, Rooster ran out of anti-missile countermeasures before being able to stop the last incoming SAM on him, which meant he was about to be shot down.

You couldn’t let that happen, not when you could try to prevent it- it all happened so quickly that you barely heard your team telling you not to do it when you took the hit meant for Rooster. The missile came with such an impact on your jet that you were almost knocked out, the last thing you remembered doing was ejecting yourself before the jet crashing down.

When you regained consciousness, you had no clue to where you were, grunting you took off your heavy equipment that would be of no use anymore and started to wander around hoping to find something, whatever it would be.

Your mind was foggy and your sight blurry at times, your body was aching all over the place but you couldn’t tell if there was a visible injury. You didn’t know what you expected when you sacrificed your jet, but clearly, it wasn’t this.

It’s only when your sight became a bit clearer that you noticed thick dark smoke coming from not too far- as if another aircraft that crashed, but you were pretty sure Rooster had no damage when you were shot down.

Rushing to the site of the potential other crash, as quick as your body could allow you at this moment, you could tell what remained of the jet wasn’t Rooster’s but Maverick’s jet. You didn’t understand what had happened, when you had been shot down he was ahead and couldn’t have been shot down too.

Frowning, you scanned with your eyes the scenery around you in hope to find something, some kind of clues- and luckily you did when you noticed Pete’s parachute that had been left behind. Following the same direction, you looked everywhere in hope to find him.

Which you did a few minutes later, even if it felt like it had been over an hour already, it wasn’t easy to see with the wind and the snow but you could tell it was him for afar. Jogging towards him, you called his name, “ wait, mav!”

While you were still catching up on him, you saw him stop right away and turn to your direction, “ y/n? oh my god!”

As soon as you were close enough, you jumped in his arms, relieved to see him alright- for a second, you didn’t care that you were on an enemy’s territory anymore, “ what happened?how could you get shot down? you were leading the group!”

“ I went back, I wanted to look for you but got shot down right away.”

“ That was very stupid of you.”

“ So was taking the missile for Rooster.”

Breaking the embrace, you cocked your head on the side, it wasn’t stupid to save your friend’s life, “ it wasn’t! I saved my friend’s ass and you should be happy about it, I know he is your family.”

“ You could’ve died too and I would’ve lost the love of my life- that doesn’t make it any better!”

“ Tha- wait, what?”

Before Pete could reply, you both heard and saw an helicopter come to your way- and it wasn’t send here to save you, “ run!”

You did as Pete said and started to run as quickly as your legs allowed you, when the helicopter fired at the both of you, you took cover behind a fallen tree or something like that.

Now that the helicopter was facing you, ready to fire, you knew it was the end, there was nothing you could do to escape, yet instinctively, Pete shielded you in hope it would be enough to protect you- in the end, it wasn’t necessary as the helicopter was miraculously shot down in front of your eyes.

Chucking as you saw it was your friend coming to save Pete and you, you had never been this happy to see him, “ holy shit Rooster!”

The joy you felt at that moment was shortened when, after you could just exchange a relieved smile with Pete, Rooster was shot down by a SAM. The pain you saw in Pete’s eyes was something you wouldn’t forget any time soon.

All you could do now was run into the forest, where Rooster had seemingly crashed and pray to find him in one piece and alive. No matter how much you tried, keeping up with Pete’s pace was impossible.

When you finally caught up on him, he had found Rooster and was already arguing with him about how stupid it had been to come back- funny for someone who had done the same thing not long before.

Hands on your knees, your lungs were on fire as you were trying to catch your breath, “ when I told you to trust your guts- that’s not what I meant.”

“ Yeah well too late for that but a thank you would be nice.”

“ Thanks,” looking at Pete, you asked, “ what do we do now?”

“ I might have an idea.”

When Pete said he had an idea, you didn’t think it implied heading to the enemy’s facility and steal a jet to escape, Rooster wasn’t a big fan of the idea but there was literally nothing else you could do.

So here you were, hiding and spying on the facility with some binoculars to find a good enough jet to steal- well you’d need two jets to all get back to the carrier.

“ There are two F-14A Tomcat, they’re not going to be used by them- it’s our chance to escape.”

Scrunching your nose at Pete’s idea, you doubted that those jets were still functioning, “ they’re ancient and we’re not even sure they’ll work.”

“ Got a better idea?”

“ Not really.”

“ Then we’re doing it.”

No sooner said than done, the three of you infiltrated the facility and got into the local that kept the two aircrafts. It had been decided that you’d be on the same jet as Pete while Rooster would fly on his own but would be limited to half of the jet’s capacity as it was a two pilots aircraft.

After getting the two jets ready for the escape, you all sat at your decided seat and buckled up to leave this place. While the takeoff was successful and you were trying to contact the carrier, the enemy was quick to send three Su-57s after you.

To say this was the most intense dogfight you had ever lived was the understatement of the century, and if it wasn’t for Hangman coming to save the three of you from the third Su-57s, none of you would have made it back to the carrier.

As soon as you difficultly landed back on the carrier, the three of you were celebrated for the successful mission and coming back alive. You watched from afar with a smile as Rooster and Pete finally made up and hugged- you were glad that they finally made peace, knowing how much Rooster meant for Pete.

While Rooster left to celebrate with the rest of the team and the deck crew, you were joined by Pete not long after, “ are you alright?”

“ I think so.”

“ You’re bleeding.”

To accompany his words, Pete examined your most likely busted eyebrow- besides scratches and bruises all over your body, it was the only wound you had- you had been extremely lucky considering your crash, “ it’s nothing much. It doesn’t even hurt that much.”

“ You need to get this checked.”

“ It’s okay, really-”

Pete’s right hand gently stroked your cheek as he looked at you right in the eyes, “ it’s not okay, no. I almost lost you today.”

“ Ma- Pete, I’m here and I’m alright, thanks to you, and Rooster.”

Wrapping your arms around the pilot, it felt nice to feel safe again after this horrible turn of events- after all that happened, you felt at home in his arms.

#pete mitchell x reader #pete mitchell imagine #maverick x reader #maverick imagine #top gun x reader #top gun imagine #top gun maverick #request

632 notes · View notes