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jackiequick · 1 year

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Smoke in the air < Top Gun Maverick fic Au

Top Gun Maverick Au Series

Setting: Set years after Top Gun, Before Top Gun Maverick

Summary: What happens when old family friends meet again? But instead it’s though daughters and granddaughters instead. What if Rachel ‘Frostbite’ MetCalf and Jennifer ‘JenPen’ Mitchell earlier, years before Top Gun?

Platonic Pairing: Jennifer ‘JenPen’ Mitchell & Rachel ‘Frostbite’ MetCalf. Maverick’s daughter & Viper’s granddaughter.

—-

It was a hot shot day in April 2011, Jennifer was sweating bullets after running streets in the sun. She just finished a quick run with Amber Kazansky, the girl was faster than her in way she can’t count. She entered the household to see her dad, Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell, and aunt, Audrey ‘Sunset’ Davidson, in the kitchen trying to cool off.

“Hey Daddy.” Jen said giving a quick kiss onto her father’s cheek. Then she bounced over to her aunt doing the same, “Hiya, Mama.”

“Hi sweetheart.” He replied with a smile, checking his watch and placed on his shades, about to head out soon.

“Hello princess.” Added Sunset pouring herself another glass of soda, “Whatcha doing here so early? Where is everyone?”

Jen opened the fridge grabbing a water bottle as lifted it up to her lips, taking a sip before replying, “Kazansky and I just finished a quick run. Bradley is god knows where. And my other friends are at the beach. Where ya headed?”

“I’m dropping something off at Chipper and Wolfman’s house. While you’re dad is driving over to old Commander Viper’s place to drop over paperwork and then head over to the offices.”

Maverick lifted up his head, “Uh change of plans! Babygirl, i need to head out to a meeting with Slider and meet up with a old student of mine, so i need you to drop off the folders for me.”

“But Dad-” Jen tried to opt out but was cut off short.

“The address is on a post-it note in my garage. It will be a quick thing, i promise.”

“But i was gonna go pick up Rusty and Lucky to go to—okay.”

—

Jennifer took a quick shower and opted for a better change of clothes. A black tank top with a gray flannel wrapped around her waist, jeans cuffed at the ankles, sandals with a pair of big tear drop shape earrings. Along with the gold crusted green necklace necklace she never removed, that made her olive green eyes pop.

She headed downstairs taking the folder with the address taped onto the front, then headed out driving to the MetCalf household, texting the girls she’ll be late to the mall. She’s been there before when she just a little girl due to her father or uncles, taking her to the house to be babysat by Viper’s wife when no one could watch over her. Viper’s wife Linda was gentle soul, always welcoming everybody in with open arms and a full plate to anyone who’s hungry. She liked her very much, but she was tough at times too.

Jennifer parked in front of the beautiful house with a freshly watered garden to die for, a white painted front porch with lights gently handing off the edge of the front door and the sound of peaceful smiles lifting up the feel of the house. Simply lovely.

The girl stepped out of the car with the items she was meant to give to the folks in hand, almost tumbling up the footsteps and knocked on the door twice. No one answered, so she knocked again nor did she hear any noise coming from the other end of the doorway. She stepped back and decided to try and walk around towards the back porch. But before she can take the first step down the staircase, Jennifer heard the door swing open and whipped her head around to face the person.

She expected to see Linda MetCalf standing there in her classic light pastel yellow top and jeans, with her hair tie in bun. Or that’s at least what her memory decided to make up of the women. Instead she was met with a young blonde girl with dark green eyes wearing a gray sweater, navy blue shorts and Converses. She definitely looked way younger than her, probably early pre-teens. Something about her gave a icy annoyed vibe, like Jen just butted into her important conversation with someone by accident. As if she landed in some deep smoke with that look.

The young girl gave her a slight glare holding the doorknob, like she was ready to slam the door in her face or something for interrupting her peace and quiet. “Uh, who the heck are you?” She asked.

“I’m uh, a sorta friend of the family.” Jennifer explained pointing towards the house.

“Sorta?”

“Yeah, Linda MetCalf sorta was my babysitter.”

“Uh okay, i guess. How old are you?”

“Almost 20..? Who the hell are you?”

“Look, I’m not supposed to talk to strangers, so please..you know, leave.”

“But I’m not a—”

Then a classic voice was heard, “Honey, who’s at the door?”

“Some girl claiming she knows..um, you?” Replied the young blonde with a confused disgusted face, scanning the brunette’s outfit choice.

Linda came in after what looks to be drying her hands off and smiled recognizing her, “Jenny, is that you?”

“Y-yeah it’s me! I’m um, sorry to interrupt you.” Jennifer said apologizing, feeling the young girl’s eyes on her.

“It’s alright what are you doing here?”

“My dad wanted me to hand this to Viper..?”

She held up a folder with tons of paperwork inside with a half smile.

“Oh yes, Mike said your father was coming over. He’s just left to the store, but i can take it for him.” Linda said kindly, holding out her hand as the girl handed her the papers, “You wanna come in? I made blueberry pie.”

“N-no it’s fine, i was gonna head out to see my friends…” Jennifer replied about to give an excuse however the scent of pie hit her nose, realizing she was hungry, “Actually yeah, a few minutes wouldn’t hurt, right?”

“Wonderful! I’ll serve you a big slice.”

—-

By the time Linda served her the slice of pie, that already seem to be cut into earlier, the young blonde headed upstairs to do god knows what. The older woman stood a seat next to the young brunette smiling. Linda asked, “So how are you sweetheart?”

“I’m alright, to be honest could be better.” Jennifer said taking a bite out the pie and humming at the delicious taste in her mouth.

“What do you mean?”

“Well dad and I are having trouble with picking career paths. Plus he’s had a little fight with my aunts and uncles..”

“Oh sweetheart, I’m sorry. You’ll figure it out eventually, you guys always do.”

“I hope so..how are you doing? I’ve haven’t seen you since i was 13, 12 maybe…?”

“I’m doing good, specially with the spring allowing more sales at the bakery and spring shopping.”

Jennifer chuckled, “Oh yeah, the mall is packed with new spring dresses at Macy’s.”

“I know it is, i brought 5 brand new outfits there last week.” Linda chuckled, pouring themselves another glass of water, “I’m so happy you stopped by, i missed seeing you.”

“Aww i missed seeing you too! If i known you were babysitting a neighbor’s kid or something i would’ve came later.”

“Neighbor’s kid?”

“Yeah the blonde girl..or is she not..?”

“Oh no sweetie you’re mistaken, that’s my granddaughter.”

“G-granddaughter? I’m so sorry I didn’t know!”

“It’s alright, you weren’t here for a long time. She is Valerie’s daughter.”

“Valerie? The oldest blonde one with the pink bracelets and used to play with me every time you babysat me?”

“That’s the one, surprised you remember. Yeah Valerie moved out with her boyfriend—now husband years ago and came back home with their daughter.”

“That’s sweet.” Jennifer smiled then jokes, “Soooo, is Hunter still available?”

“Possibly.” Linda joked back, “And I think your a better match than his last girlfriend, Brianna.”

She laughed, “I might have to ask him out then. Besides, I think Brianna wasn’t the kindest girl…um what’s granddaughter’s name?”

“Rachel MetCalf. She’s a nice girl.”

“Uh, nice? She had an icey look like she could bite me.”

“She’s a sweetheart, Jenny. Go meet her, she’s in the guest room down the hall across from the bathroom.”

—

Rachel was laying down on the bed watching rewatching a Taylor Swift music video on her laptop, as her feet kicking on the back near the edge. The lyrics blasted throughout the cracked open door, her nails were still wet from painting them a light gray color. She was relaxed and singing softly, not hearing the footsteps of clapping sandals along the the wooden floor.

She knocked on the white painted door asking if she could come in, thankfully she received a quiet yes. Once Jennifer opened the door, she was met with a different look, a far more comfortable one.

“Uh hey.” Jen said standing in the doorway giving the girl a small smile.

“Ugh what do you want?” Replies the blonde pausing the music video, wiping her head around to the girl.

“To talk. To you.”

“Uh why? Look my grandma, if ask you to do that just don’t listen to her. You might be wasting your time You came here to bring over some stuff, that’s all.”

“Uh ok first off, yeah she sent me here.”

“I knew it! We both know you got something more entertaining to do instead.”

“Secondly, watch your tone!”

“You ain’t my mother nor my grandmother!”

“Yeahhh I’m not but those two lovely ladies you just mentioned, I do know! I..sorry ok..I just came to be nice. Can we start over?”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because it’s a nice thing to do.”

“Really? How so?”

——

The dark brunette, she didn’t speak, not knowing how to respond to that comment. Jen walked in and sat down on the edge of the bed, however knowing that this would be a long talk. Rachel sat crisscross applesauce on the bed, scrolling through the reopened Twitter page on her laptop. Memes, gifs, messages and videos filled up her feed. She glanced up at over every once in a while, waving a hand for her waiting for the girl to keep speaking.

But Jennifer didn’t.

Instead she watched her. The hair bouncing in front of her face, her dark nails, the rolled shoulder and annoyed pouted lips. The frosty looks that could sharply hurt you, a soft stabbing, focused glare underneath that deep eyeliner of hers. Some people are always like that that, it’s who they are. But sometimes it’s always something different, stronger. Something behind those eyes. Either she was going across a teenage phase or…

“How long?” Jennifer asked, the words just slipped out.

“What?” Rachel replies eyeing her up and down.

“How long was your father shipped out?”

“Wa-excuse me? How did you know that?! You just walk in here and asked me that…”

“H-hey I’m sorry. It just slipped out..well because I know the face. The attitude.”

Both of their voices were low, as if it was whispers of a conversation. Rachel looked at her once again, noticing that this girl seriously just called her out on something that she didn’t expect to hear. But somehow was known to everyone in that very room. It kinda sucks that the annoying girl in front of her read the room that quickly, or just guess it.

For Jen, it was something she knew a little too well. The look, sometimes the cries and the attitude. She experienced it, still does. Not something you catch on unless you travel around and met people every once in a while. Sometimes you need someone else to listen to you.

Rachel sighed, leaned back and scoff, “Okay that um, wow. Rude sorta I guess..but um yeah, my dad was you know gone for 6 months or less…Navy and stuff runs in the family. Guess with yours too?”

“Yeah. He’s never been gone for that long, huh?” Jennifer asked, she got a nod in return and continued, “I get it. It’s not easy, it gets annoying like the longest waiting game ever…what about your mom?”

“My mom?”

“Yeah..”

“Mom is usually at work nowadays, so I stay with um, well my grandparents. Mostly grandma. I mean yeah she’s always here but the last few weeks..she’s been usually busy with work.”

“It’s tough, at least you get to be near some cool grandparents. I get it, it can be hard sometimes you just want them safe and sound. Especially if your a bit of a daddy’s girl growing up, I guess.”

——

Rachel was still working out the way to look at this situation. Just a few minutes ago she was annoyed at this point with her but now it was like she has soften up. Sometimes you don’t know if someone is getting honest or just chatting with you to make conversation. As if it was a lie or something, she’s been though his routine before.

She scoffed and looking at her laptop, “Yeah well, what do you know?”

“What do you mean?” Jennifer asked, playing with her nails for a moment.

“You’re just sweet talking me or something. You don’t know me, you’re mom is probably at home with your dad.”

“She’s not at home.”

“Shopping for grocery then, whatever. At least she’s with you.”

“Yeah probably in spirit.”

“Huh?”

Jennifer scoff with a slightly half smile, “Girl, my moms dead.”

“Oh-oh my god! I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to.” Rachel said quickly with widen eyes, closing her laptop, “I um, uh, I didn’t know..”

“It’s alright. You didn’t mean to.”

“I’m sorry…is that why you visited my grandparents a lot? I heard half of the conversation downstairs. You uh, talk loud.”

“Y-yeah I mean sorta..I guess that’s why. My dad or uncle were busy with work as I got a little older, so I was always dropped off here..just like you.”

“What? No other uncles or aunts or older siblings to take care of you? At least I had my uncles and aunts.”

“Live far away or you know, busy with work. My dad trusted me in the care of your grandparents.”

“And my aunts and uncles appears like it..”

“Oh no, they just showed up to play every once in a while.”

Rachel joked with a half smile, “In what year? 1987?”

“Hey! I’m only a few years older than you. And yeah, in the late very 80s.” Jennifer admitted, knowing she couldn’t lie abiotic that.

“Hahahahaha! Old lady.”

“Again I’m literally 19. What are you? Like 11?”

“11?!”

“13?”

“13?! I’m 15! Just turned 15 a while back.”

“Heheh! You don’t look like it…”

“Okay, rude.”

“But you sound like it.”

Rachel muttered a ‘wow’ trying to act serious and mature enough to act like it, but the moment she turned around to face Jennifer. It was a whole different story. The brunette was biting the inside of her cheek, grinning softly at her, “What?” The young blonde started chuckling that grew into a fit of laughter, the other girl followed suit. They laughed for a good minute straight, chatting a bit more.

“So uh, can we start over..?” Jennifer asked with a shrug, smiling.

“Sure, why not.” Rachel replied with a slight scoff and smile.

“Hi, I’m Jennifer Mitchell my friends c-”

“Seriously? The whole introduction thing too and-”

“Just do it. Please?”

“Fine..I’m Rachel MetCalf. My friends call me Rach, at least they would if I had any friends.”

It was Jennifer’s turn to scoff and half smile, “Cute. Did you just quote Meg from ‘Hercules’?”

“Well yeah, duh. She’s a cool chick and relatable to me..” Rachel replied with a shrug and smirk.

“Okay, Megara..”

“Yeah no.”

“What? Nicknames it’s for sake! Iceman is already taken.”

“Rachel is just fine.”

“Okay fine.”

“You give everyone a nickname?”

“On occasion.”

“Oh dear god…fine, only one nickname got it? It should be a cool one! Not some lame basic one.”

“Damn okay, yes ma’am.”

She laughed at the older girl reaction. It made her feel comfortable and cool. Honestly she wasn’t half bad in her eyes. Rachel thought that she was warm and sweet, which contrasted her cool and collective self. Yeah she had a friend or two, but this brunette girl was willing to stay up here with her for a while. Yeah sure, it took Linda MetCalf to do so, but still. Usually she was the loner who gave everyone the side eye, then comes on this girl to interrupt her vibe today. Interesting.

The two chatted a bit more. Talked about schools, discussing movies, joked about crushes, watch some YouTubers, and do more things to past the time.

Not gonna lie, Jennifer was glad she went upstairs. The moment she saw the young blonde at the front door, it was smoke in the air! Her mind was racing with ideas to leave the paperwork and get out of there, especially when that glare hit her. Planning to definitely refuse the idea of coming upstairs to actually meet her, meet up with her friends at the mall. But when she got to know the blonde girl, something about this newfound friendship felt good.

The pair were discussing a few new movie trailers when Jen phone vibrate with a call from Rusty, she excused herself real quick to answer it remembering about the mall. She heard that the girls were at the Food Court, just finished showing at Target waiting for her.

Jennifer ended the call, noticing a few missed text messages from her dad as well. Oops. When she returned to the bedroom, she was met with the young MetCalf eyes and soft smile.

“You’re friends?” She asked with small nod.

“And a few missed text messages from dad..” She replied nodding.

“Oof. Tough break, sorry about that.”

“It’s cool. I got hang out with a cool girl anyway.”

“Cool?”

“Yeah your kinda cool.”

“Your playing, I ain’t cool.”

“I would say so, Rachel.”

“Whatever you say, Mitchell.”

Both girls chuckled.

“Walk me out?” Jennifer suggested with a small shrug, pointing at the door.

“Sure.” Rachel reply was quick as she jumped off the bed, leading her down the steps.

—-

——

They chatted some more, greeting Linda midway to the front porch. She smiled at both girls, happy to see they somehow got along. She gave the young Mitchell a slice of pie to go and returned back to the kitchen counter to continue a phone call of hers. Rachel opened the door for her new found friend. Jennifer smiled, giving her a small thanks.

“You know I wasn’t expecting this day to go like this, but I’m glad it did.” Jen says holding the pie in her hands.

Rachel leaned against the door frame, “Yeah, it wasn’t bad. Again, I’m sorry about earlier.”

“Oh no, it’s fine. I’m used to it, I shouldn’t have snapped at you.”

“It’s cool, I kinda needed it you know.”

“Yeah. Ohhh how about I swing by again this week and I can take you out?”

“Seriously? T-that’s odd, we just met.”

“So? We’re kinda on good terms and I would like to hang out with you a bit more.”

The blonde smiled hearing that, surprised to see how open this girl was receiving her this whole time. Somehow she liked this annoying ball of sunshine and jokes. The brunette smiled softly as if she can see the gears turn in her head, she was cool with hanging out with someone like her. Somehow she enjoyed the vibe of this bright eyed ball of cool breezes and slightly snarky remarks.

It was that ‘screw off’ attuned attitude towards her, that Jennifer liked for some reason. She wait for a response from the blonde, playing with her necklace.

“Oh right.” Rachel said snapping out if her thought considering her offer, “Sure! Y-yeah we can hang out tomorrow I guess, o-only if your free of course. You seem kinda busy.”

“Nahh girl, I ain’t that busy!” Jennifer replies with a soft chuckle, “I’m usually lounging around or something. So I can definitely hang out tomorrow.”

“G-great! That sounds great, you’ll pick me up?”

“If it’s cool with your grandma and—”

Suddenly the yells of Linda MetCalf was heard, “YES! ITS OKAY WITH ME!..sorry, I was eavesdropping for a moment!”

Both girls laughed at the older woman, nodding at the agreement. Satisfied somehow with this situation of today, it wasn’t planned but it was nice so far. Rachel said her quick goodbyes, giving the brunette her phone number in the process and closed the door. Jennifer nodded as the door was sorta slammed in her face and chuckled running off to her ride.

—-

Thank you for reading this fic! Hope you enjoyed it

Tags: @gaminggirlsstuff @msrochelleromanofffelton @gcthvile @drspencereidhotch @ohgodnotagainn @morgan108 @topgun-imagines @theloveoftoms @annepsilvaauthor @t-nd-rfoot @withakindheartx @starkleila @buckysteveloki-me @rooster-84 @novavida and etc.

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