forever

PAIRING lieutenant bradley ‘rooster’ bradshaw/fem!reader

SUMMARY while rooster, who you were severely in love with, was held back by maverick - your career in the navy flourished, and your friendship with rooster was lost. once your’re ordered to assist maverick teach top gun, you’re forced to come face to face with this heartbreak.

WARNINGS angst, pining, flashback dreams in italic, eventual romance, one scene near the end where you have a panic attack but it’s not graphic or anything, one scene of implied sm*t but its like blink and you miss it.

REQUESTED yes/no (kinda, people asked me to write about rooster but not this specifically)

WORD COUNTS 18k words (sorry)

this is THE LONGEST thing i’ve ever written. i’ve loved miles teller since i was eleven years old and i refuse to be quiet!

The passage of time had always been something so interesting to you, so interesting yet so tragic. It was interesting to watch how quickly a month could pass, how slowly the next week could slug by. But it was tragic to remember that you would spend each passing moment yearning for another, another who could not be yours.

It wasn’t that the thought consumed you, that it took up every waking moment of your life. However, every time you were called to action, you were reminded of the person who couldn’t be by your side. The person who was meant to be your partner in battle, your wingman in every mission. But the past was the past, and the only thing you could do was hope that someday you wouldn’t have to think about him.

“Apex, you with me?” Your head jerked to the side as you turned to face Maverick, sitting beside you at the bar as you nursed your drink. “I asked if you wanted anything other than water, it’s apparently on me.”

Your eyes darted to the bartender, who you’d met before. “How long have I been comatose?” You asked, nearly dumbfounded by how you had missed an entire conversation. You’d been to this bar once in the past, and you knew when a round was on someone a giant, unmissable, loud bell rang. Meaning that you’d been so distracted by thoughts of the past, that you didn’t even hear that.

“Probably from the moment you sat down, you look like you need a drink.” Penny answered, motioning to the bar. “It’ll be on the house. I’ve seen that look before.”

Of course, Penny of all people would understand. Maverick had broken her heart in the past, stories you heard from him, stories you figured out on your own when your old time friend came to visit without his girlfriend. “I’m okay, I don’t drink on missions.” You answered, glancing down at the bar for a moment. “Thank you, though.”

She smiled and nodded, she could tell you were sincere with her thanks. “Are you ready to become a teacher?” Maverick asked, watching a snort escape your nose. A smile widened over the man’s lips as you looked over at him.

“I’m probably younger than some of the people I’ll be teaching.” You weren’t sure who exactly your pupils were. While Maverick had been given that briefing, Cyclone sent you to set up the graphics for the mission and make sure the ships were up to par. While he knew he was asking Maverick if he would fly for Top Gun, you were his first pick to begin with. There was no question if you were up for it.

“True, but you’re the most qualified.”

That much was true. You may be rather young to have as many accolades as you did, but every honor and title you had was something you earned. You’d graduated top of your class, top of every class. But back then, you were more youthful and happy. You were excited to get to fly with your best friend, your best friend who you’d met during training but your best friend never-the-less. Once that was taken away from you, you’d taken the heartbreak and anguish and turned it into a flourishing career. Hence the callsign, Apex. You were the top of the top, the best of the best in the eyes of a considerable few people in the Navy - but anyone who knew you personally, knew you were taking out some deep-seated emotion you refused to go to therapy for.

As you went to respond, you noticed a shift in the atmosphere in the room. Conversations seemed to lull, from everyone. Your head turned to the door to watch a man walk in, to see the face you had been dreaming about seeing again every night, standing in front of you. Even from afar, you could feel the energy radiating off of him, the draw to be closer and know what it would feel like to hug him again, but that bridge with Bradley Bradshaw had been burned long ago.

While Maverick looked away, you couldn’t help the way that your head fell. Your hand covered your face as you tried to keep yourself obscured for just long enough that you could slip out without much notice. That moment came when he made his way over to the other recruits. You slipped money for the water to Penny before heading out of the door, not bothering to look back for anything.

It all felt so overwhelming. Like a rush of memories of every moment you’d had with Bradley came back. From the first moment you met the man, to the day he was given the callsign Rooster. Every touch, every laugh, every hug… it all came back to you. Your head was rushing with emotions, pounding against your skull for some kind of release from this sudden crash around you. It was difficult to ignore the pounding of your heart as you worked to regulate your breathing, as you fought the tears attempting to slip from your eyes.

The feeling faded away slowly when you felt an arm around your shoulder. Maverick, watching in for the same face you were. You felt the same hurt from him, the same pain that you were feeling, the longing and sadness, the feeling like he’d betrayed someone. While you knew his hurt came from how much he missed Goose, he knew your pain came from your longing for Bradley. He knew how you felt about the man, everyone who knew you at the time did.

Eventually, you both let go of the scene in front of you and went to your respective temporary homes. As you fell asleep that night, the only dreams that overtook you were memories from the past.

“You’re not as fast as you think you are, you know.” Bradley said, leaning back against the wall of your hotel room as you turned to look at him. “I’m just saying.”

“Yeah, well, at least I’m faster than you.” You teased, flicking the balled up straw you’d been holding at him. He made no effort to dodge it.

“Real mature, Apex.”

“Can it, Rooster.”

You couldn’t help the laugh that escaped your throat, the laugh that followed from him only making your face brighter as he slid down against the wall to sit. You walked over toward him to sit with him, watching the sky as you calmed down. It was nearing nightfall, as the purple and pink sunset covered the horizon of the midwestern town you were staying in. It was beautiful, but you couldn’t stop your eyes from traveling over to Bradley. Someday, you wished you could tell him that you thought he was more beautiful than even a perfect summer night such as this one. But as your eyes connected, as you found utter softness in his, you decided this connection wasn’t worth risking.

“We’ll fly together after we finish here, you know that right?” He asked, letting his hand brush over yours. It was nearly imperceptible, but your fingers tangled with his anyway.

“I won’t take orders to go on a mission without you.” You responded, your voice softer than you intended. But he could only smile, a genuine and soft smile. “Can’t let you get any more scars, now can we?”

“I thought you liked my scars!” He said, feigning offense as though he had missed what you were actually saying. But you knew he was only kidding, he never misunderstood what you said to him.

“‘Course I do, silly. I just don’t want you getting hurt.”

No more words followed as his soft smile turned to face the sky, only growing as your head rested on his shoulder. You could never be a hundred percent positive about what the future would bring. But in that moment, the only future you could see was one where you flew alongside Bradley Bradshaw, your best friend and love of your life.

But the soft, happy memory faded away. The bright lights turned dim as Bradley jerked away from you. As you looked around for just a moment to notice you were in a different room.

“How the hell could you let him do this to me?!” Bradley shouted, hands in his hair as he tugged on it. “I mean, wasn’t that the whole thing? You wanted to fly with me, you fucking wanted to.”

“I do-”

“You don’t, if you did you wouldn’t have let Maverick do this. I mean, you talk to him more than I do! You let this happen, you could’ve stopped it.”

“I didn’t even know he was going to do it, Bradley-”

“Don’t ‘Bradley’ me, Apex. You fucking knew. You-You’re lying!” It was clear he was emotional, clear as day as you watched his red face look anywhere but at you. But once he finally did, once your eyes locked, you saw nothing less than hate in them. You jerked further away from him than you already were, nearly feeling your heart drop. “So go be with your best friend, leave me in the fucking dust.”

“Is that what you really want, Rooster?”

“Yeah, that’s what I really want.”

The door to your room was already open in your dream, as you walked through it and went into your room. You remembered the feeling of despair as you glanced at the very porch you’d sat with him only a week before, as you collapsed onto the bed in a fit of tears. That night would be an absolute hellish nightmare for you, the night you screamed at Maverick and begged him not to pull Rooster’s papers. The night the older man found out you were in love with Bradley Bradshaw, even tried to reason that you should be glad that Bradley didn’t run the risk of getting hurt anymore.

You woke up bright and early, tears staining your cheeks as you got up and got ready for the day. It was difficult to power through the early morning knowing that you were only hours away from Rooster being forced to look at you, to work with you. That the man you had never stopped loving was going to be within arm’s reach, and yet completely and utterly unreachable. In hindsight, perhaps you should’ve fought with him. Fought to keep your friendship alive, just admitted that you could never betray him like that because you were in love with him. Hell, maybe you should’ve never forgiven Maverick for what he did. But the past needed to be left in the past, and Maverick had gone out of his way to make things right with you. He’d mentored you, personally, for years. Every skill you had you owed to him, it was difficult to lose such a bond.

The minute you’d been dreading came quicker than you expected as yourself and Maverick were introduced to the recruits, as you stood in front of them and took them all in. A few, you remembered from the bar. Hangman had made himself very visible to both of you, though it was clear he remembered the way he had talked to his new teacher, Maverick, as he looked at him.

“Apex here readied all of your ships for training today, if anything goes wrong, you know who to blame.” Maverick said, joking around with you as you only rolled your eyes and shot him a nearly threatening glare.

“You’ll find that everything is above average in the ship.” The moment ‘above average’ came out of your mouth, you could see something threatening to spill out of Hangman’s. “Say what you’re thinking and I’ll dump coffee on yours tomorrow.”

“Just as feisty as the rumors say.” He retorted, holding up his hands as if he was yielding to you. The smile on his face remained, however.

You only motioned for Maverick to continue, knowing that the time for a conversation with a recruit wasn’t now. You allowed him to give his presentation, since you really were only there to teach flight - the planning was on Maverick. However, this lull on conversation for you only spelled trouble as you glanced over at Rooster. You could tell that he was purposefully ignoring your gaze, though you had felt his burning holes in your head the moment you walked in. It was difficult to look at him, difficult when you had been yearning to see him again for so long, and difficult knowing that he wanted nothing to do with you.

By the time you were in the air, you could only do what you always did - work your ass off so you didn’t have to think about Bradley Bradshaw. The first training exercise was an easy one, trying to evade hits from the enemy. In this case, you would fly with the pilots and show them how to avoid being hit by Maverick. It seemed simple, easy. There were twelve recruits, why did you need to speak to one specific person? You could be professional, even if you needed to speak to Bradley. At the end of the day, your awkward relationship with him wasn’t the anger that was held between himself and Maverick. It felt like some deeply held in sadness, something you could only veil so thinly before people started to notice.

As you flew through the skies, you watched as Maverick took out person after people. Only yourself, Hangman and Rooster remained. You fell into formation with Hangman rather quickly. Though he wasn’t the kindest person you’d ever met, he was easy to work with, and he was definitely a damn good pilot. You listened in as he tried to ask Rooster about the tension between him and Maverick, a question which Rooster had no interest in asking.

Maverick was quick to interrupt it, getting ready to go into ‘battle’ with Rooster to take him out of the playing field. You were quick to jump in the way of the attack.

“Good teamwork, Apex. But you’ve left yourself exposed, do not sacrifice yourself if you don’t have to.” You were the next to be taken out of the game, and it was only fair that you were sent to do your two-hundred pushups when this was all over. You flew back to the base, but as you flew, you could hear the conversation on the other end. They were much, much lower and closer to the ground than they were supposed to be.

The feeling of your heart pounding in your chest returned as you listened to their conversation, as you used everything in you to not interject on it. What happened between them was personal, no matter how you felt about it, you had no say in the matter. You just hoped that what Maverick was doing, the unorthodox training, wasn’t going to get you into any trouble like you were sure it will for him.

Regardless, you landed on the runway rather quickly. “Sure the teacher needs to do this?” Hondo asked, watching you climb out of the seat and onto the ground.

“It’s only fair, isn’t it? Can’t be a hypocrite.” You never much liked push-ups, but if this was to be a fully functional team, then you needed to be able to do what everyone else was doing. Just because you were instructing them, doesn’t change the fact that you were all equals on this mission.

You got into the correct position for the exercise, trying to ignore the knowledge of who would be returning soon. You’d gotten to around a hundred before Rooster returned, before your push-ups weakened as you tried not to think about your emotions. It was easier working and bottling things up when he wasn’t right there in front of you, but when you were near him, when you could feel him near you, it was harder than ever before to ignore how badly you missed him, to ignore how your heart swelled when you remembered a particularly happy day with him.

The thoughts had you so distracted that you didn’t notice you were at the end of your push-ups until Hondo reached two hundred and tapped you on the shoulder. You were quick to stand up, brushing yourself off as you tried to ignore the hard stare of Rooster. Once you finally cautioned a glance over at him, it was as if your entire world stopped when you locked eyes. It was the first time you held his stare since that last night with him. That night, they had been so full of hate that you knew you would never see him again.

It had been a fear of yours to lock eyes with him again, a fear that you would see that same hatred in his eyes even after such a long passage of time. However, when your eyes locked, you saw nothing but pain. Pain, hurt, regret, everything but hate. You wanted nothing more than to go over there and tell him that you’re sorry for not doing anything when you heard him crying through the walls, even though you knew he could hear you crying all night long as well. You just wished there was something you could do, something to make up for the lost times or just convince him that you had nothing to do with what Maverick did.

The sound of your voice being called drew you out of your trance, Cyclone motioning for you to follow himself and Maverick inside. You found your way to the chair in his office, watching as he yelled at Maverick. “I don’t have these problems with her, why is that? Apex has a history with Rooster too.”

“She had no reason to go that low, sir.”

“With all due respect, Maverick did cross a line today. However, some lines need to be crossed for the sake of the mission. They need to be prepared for anything, sir.”

The man ran a hand over his face, seemingly disappointed that his ‘top choice’ was siding with the man he didn’t even want to have here in the first place. But he kept his aggression’s on Maverick, tightening his leash around him. “Keep an eye on him, or it’ll be you too.”

“Understood, sir.”

The moment all of you were out of the room, you found yourself exhaling a sigh of relief. As horrible as that conversation had been, the stress of it took your mind off of Rooster for a moment as you headed back to where you were staying. Just about the moment your head hit the pillows, you were out like a light. Whatever dreams did come, were ones you didn’t remember in the morning. You were just glad to not be reminded of your past with Rooster again, to not have to think about how badly you missed him with everything in you.

The next couple of days of training went by just as you had expected them to. While the pain of being around someone you used to love, someone you still truly do love, never really subsided in you, it became more bearable. It was like a pain you were used to, something tolerable. Like the taste of cough syrup - you need to drink it to feel better, even if it tastes like someone made it for the explicit purpose of making people wish they never had taste buds.

It wasn’t until one specific day that things went wrong. “Flying fast is a key to success, but it isn’t the only key.” You said, standing in front of the recruits as you looked around at all of them. “Just because you fly quickly, doesn’t mean you fly accurately. Flying slowly but staying off course doesn’t exactly help you either. Take risks, but make sure they’re well worth it.”

Advice you couldn’t even take yourself, when it came to anything other than flying. Every single team that came back from the mission failed, and while Maverick spoke to them about it, you could tell that much of his words surrounding it came from how much he missed Goose. The only person, the only team, that reached the target was Rooster.

It was difficult to watch the way people were speaking to him, it wasn’t until Hangman said something to him that you spoke up, until he, rather rudely, told Rooster that he wasn’t flying fast enough. “That’s for us to decide, not you.” It was meant to come out simple, but your words sounded bitter if anything. You managed to catch quite a few people off guard, moreso when Hangman felt compelled to apologize for speaking out of turn.

Maverick, however, remained focused on Rooster. It was as clear as purified water that everything he was saying to him was personal in his heart. You knew that, but you didn’t believe the other people in the room did. Even if they didn’t know, that doesn’t mean that Rooster himself didn’t know - because you were sure he did.

“I think what Maverick is trying to say could be a lesson for all of us. Thinking can save your life, but it can also get you killed.” While a few people, mainly Phoenix and Bob, took your words to heart and nodded with agreement - clearly hoping to ease the tension just as much as you were, Maverick pushed on.

His words toward Rooster were far from over, you couldn’t help yourself from turning to look at him with utter dismay. Everything Maverick was doing in this moment was utterly unprofessional, and must’ve been hurtful to rooster. But your upcoming interjection fell flat the moment Hangman brought himself into the conversation. The moment the scolding began, he was quick to jump in and attack Rooster, and now he was going for the kill and bringing up Goose. You couldn’t believe he would do something like that, but you could see the lunge coming from a mile away. And truthfully, even though you were supposed to be scolding Rooster for such immature behavior, you couldn’t help but understand his actions.

Despite the anger in his actions, the anger written on his face. You could see the hurt behind Rooster’s eyes, the pain at the mention of his father by someone who was trying to make a mockery of it. In that moment, you wished more than anything that you still had the ability to hold him in your arms. That you could pet his hair, remind him that he wasn’t alone. While the class was dismissed, everyone in the room slowly dispersed.

Everyone but two people, that was. Your eyes followed Rooster as he made his way to the door, you remembered the mistake you made last time you were with him in a vulnerable state. You said nothing, you did nothing. You didn’t help him at all, and you couldn’t make that same mistake.

“Are you going to be okay?” You asked him, your voice more meek than you intended it to be. There was no doubt in your mind that he would be, but that didn’t mean he didn’t deserve the comfort in the moment.

“I’ll be okay.” He answered, turning back to you for a moment. “I’m sorry that we ruined Maverick’s lesson.”

“You didn’t ruin anything, Hangman did. He was out of line.” You wanted to say something personal, to tell him that you were here for him. But all you could do as you held eye contact with him was fight off the urge to cry. “Don’t let anyone speak to you like that, Rooster. You deserve better.”

“Thank you.” He mumbled, a small but visible smile on his lips. It was nothing like the memory from your dreams, the big and comfortable smile on his face. But it was soft, it was meaningful, and you wanted nothing more than to be able to see him smile again. Rooster walked out of the room rather shortly after, despite your wish for him to stay.

There was a moment, a moment in which the only emotion that filled you was regret. Regret that you didn’t chase after him, that you didn’t try and reason with him and tell him that you couldn’t live with the tension between the both of you any longer. A similar regret to the one that you felt that night that you argued with him, the night his papers were pulled by Maverick. But there was nothing you could do. He would forever blame you for that, even if you had nothing to do with it.

That night led to nothing but you lying awake in bed, reminiscing on the past and remembering how you felt on that horrible night. It was never something that left your mind, the feeling of wishing that you could just go and see Rooster. Eventually, you fell asleep, but the painful memories didn’t cease.

The starless night sky led to an utter downpour that night, you could only bitterly laugh as the thunder knocked the power in the hotel out over and over again, at least three times an hour. Of course, on the night your life would implode, the sky would do the same. It felt almost poetic in a way, even though this storm had been predicted for a long time - this storm of emotions, however, was something you had no preparation for.

Despite the loud cracks of thunder and lightning, the sound of the pouring rain crashing against the window, all you could hear was the sounds of Rooster crying on the other side of the wall. The wall of the double room you were assigned in the hotel, because everyone knew that you’d find your way to spending the night with each other anyway. But that night, for the first night since you arrived in the city, you slept in your own room. You didn’t fall asleep on the floor, giggling while Rooster passed out beside you. You didn’t fall asleep in the bed of your best friend, listening to him tell story after story of times you had spent together - in celebration of entering a new chapter of your lives, a new chapter together.

Instead, you spent your night sobbing, crying to anyone who would listen and begging for time to be reversed. Bradley cried the entire night, and with each passing moment, you considered just going into his side of the room and apologizing. Perhaps, you would be able to convince him you had nothing to do with Maverick’s decision, since he wasn’t in such an emotional state as he was earlier. But through and through, you kept your ground and remained in your room. And this would be the worst mistake you’d made. The last chance you had to apologize to him, to change his mind.

Not that it would have mattered, because while you progressed in the ranks, he needed to work his way back up to the top. When would you have even seen each other?

It had only been an hour since you had started to go to sleep, before you found yourself waking up and deciding to just stay awake until morning. Maybe then you would be able to escape the painful memories, but even awake, all you could do was wonder if it would help to just go and see him. To try and make things right… at three in the morning? Chances he was even awake were low, the best you could do was just spend an extra long time getting dressed and head out.

By the time you got to base, you were being sent right back to your room to change into a bathing suit and head for the beach.

“You sure Cyclone is gonna approve of this?” You asked Maverick, walking alongside him back to the recruits as you all packed into a van.

“He will, once he sees how it bonds them. We can’t have another outburst like Hangman’s, it’ll endanger the mission.” He explained, watching you finally acknowledge what he was doing. “Plus, I think you could do with some team bonding.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you. I can’t watch you walk around like a kicked puppy anymore.” His words were blunt, but you could tell there was sincerity behind them. The both of you had come a long way in your friendship, especially considering the fact that years ago you would have punched him for even bringing that up. At the end of the day, what happened between you and Bradley wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for what Maverick did. But you’d both moved past that, and when he saw a small smile on your lips, he couldn’t be more grateful for that.

“I’m sorry if I’ve been off… I just-”

“You don’t have to apologize, I already know.” The truth was, he knew fully what you were going through because you had told him. He knew you were in love with Rooster - granted, everyone knew you were in love with Rooster, but he knew first hand because you outright told him. But it didn’t change the past, and the best thing you could do was pack into the car and go to the beach with your team.

The moment you arrived at the beach, it was like everything that was burdening you was off of your mind. The weight on your shoulders had been carried away from the warm rays of the sun, and the happy children playing off in the distance. You could only smile as the game began, knowing that you were going to do everything in your power to win it. It wasn’t that you wanted to show off, you were just competitive in nature.

Despite the objective of the game existing, it didn’t take any more than twenty minutes for you to just be throwing a ball back and forth between everyone. At some point, you’d chosen Phoenix to be your partner in the game, whatever that even meant since there no longer seemed to be an objective. It was utterly relaxing to just run around, keeping her back while people tried to knock her away from the ball. Despite your best efforts, though, you wound up on your ass rather quickly.

“Oh, that’s gotta hurt! You good, Apex?!” Hangman shouted from behind you, laughing as you gave a thumbs up. To say you were ‘on your ass’ would be… technically a lie. You fell face first, sitting up with a big grin on your face, despite the sand threatening to fall into your mouth as Phoenix helped you to your feet.

“I’m tapping out for a minute!” You said, motioning to the towel you had off to the side. As you went off to wipe your face, planting back down on the dry sand by the chairs, you didn’t notice someone approaching you until they were right in front of you, speaking to the woman on the ground with a towel covering her face as she fought with sand to make sure that it didn’t get lodged into her tear ducts.

“Sure you’re okay? Sand in your eyes is a bitch.” You removed the towel and glanced up, the shadow of the one and only Bradley Bradshaw keeping the sun from infiltrating your eyes.

“Is it gone? Did I get it all?” You asked, motioning to your face and watching him shake his head, as you went to bring the towel back to your face, you felt him snatch it from you and kneel next to you.

“Let me help, I’m pretty sure Cyclone will fire us all if he has to pay for your medical bills.” He said, placing two fingers on your cheek as he guided you to face him so he could wipe the sand off of you. “Close your left eye, there’s some on your eyelid.”

As instructed, your left eye fluttered closed as you fought to keep the right one open. “I don’t think that man likes a single one of us.”

“I don’t know, he seems to like you.”

“He tolerates me, I was his first pick to teach this mission.” You responded, shrugging it off as he paused, his eyes widening a bit.

“You’re kidding?” When you shook your head, indicating that you were, in fact, being truthful, “Wow, you really are an apex predator.”

“You can’t call someone a predator, Bradley. It’s not nice.”

“Shut up, it was a compliment.” You felt him flick a piece of sand as you as a laugh sounded from your throat. It was less than a few seconds after, when he finished cleaning the sand off of your face.

When the towel was pulled back, you could see him clear as day. So close that you could almost feel his breath on your face, that you could see every detail of his eyes that you missed so much. You wanted to tell him how badly you missed him, and as you held your gaze, all you could see was that same softness.

“You used my first name.” He said, in a tone so soft and quiet that you hardly heard it over the sounds of the beach. “I never thought you’d say it again.”

“Bradl-”

“I know you didn’t have anything to do with Maverick pulling my papers, he confronted me about it.” He said, louder than he was before. “I’m so sorry, I’m so fucking sorry-”

“No, no. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have left like that. I should’ve fought with you. Had I done that… god. What good did screaming at Maverick even do me?”

You felt an arm around your shoulder, followed by one around your waist as you were slowly pulled into a hug. You nearly melted into it as your arms wrapped around Bradley, as the rise and full of his chest lulled you into the most peaceful state you’d been in.

“I should’ve never assumed you had anything to do with that.” He said, running his hand through your hand as you let your head nestle into his neck. “I missed you.”

“I’ve barely been able to sleep since this mission started.” You admitted, feeling his breath catch beneath your head for a moment.

“Neither have I.”

You couldn’t help the way that you let your body completely melt into his touch, nor could he help the way that he held you tighter than he had probably ever held anyone before. It had been many years since you’d seen each other before this mission. Both older, wiser, and in completely different phases of your life despite being born months apart. Despite it all, everything felt like it was in place while you held onto each other, while the sounds of the beach faded away.

Eventually, though, you needed to pull back. There was only so long that you could cuddle a friend without anyone else wondering if something else was happening. A friend, a friend who you were sitting beside. After all this time, it only felt natural to pull away and smile at him, to feel that same smile reciprocated as he looked at you.

“God I missed you.” You mumbled, watching the smile only grow on his face. You couldn’t contain yours from matching it, sending back an almost toothy smile.

“I missed you too, so much.” He said, before standing up and holding out his hand. “Let’s go win this game.”

“Is there even an objective anymore?”

“Not really.”

From then out, the game was much easier. Whatever fun you’d been having before was doubled, while you worked well with Phoenix, you’d never stopped being able to coordinate with Bradley. It was as though you were reading each other’s minds to everyone else there, with just how easy it was for you both to come out on top of just about every scenario. The only person, the one sole person, who was capable of defeating you both? Bob. Neither of you had anticipated Bob being as skilled as he was, so it came as a shock when he ended up being the one to win whatever strange points system you’d devised while everyone got distracted and forgot the actual objective of the game.

Even in loss, you couldn’t complain as you felt Bradley wrap his arm around you in a side hug. As you let your own arm wrap around him, while everyone gave you a consolation ‘good game’ and left it at that. He may have been sweaty from the game, and you sure were too. In this state, normally, you wouldn’t want anyone to touch you or even come within feet of you. But he was the exception to the rule, and it felt absolutely amazing being this close to him again.

It wasn’t too long after the game ended that Maverick called it and told everyone they were free to go home for the day. The team, however, had different plans. All it took was a slightly pleading glance from Phoenix to not leave her with all the guys for the night and an arm on slung around your shoulder from Rooster to get you to go to the bar with them.

The last time you were in this bar, you were unhappy and distracted. Assigned to fly for Top Gun, and assigned to work with the man you had missed for so long. Now, you were completely at peace. “You don’t drink on the job, do you?” Bradley asked, turning to you as you walked in with him.

“Never have, probably never will unless I get desperate.” You said, shrugging as you followed him to where he had decided to sit. Off at the bar, ordering non-alcoholic beverages for you both.

“Well, it’s only fair that neither of us drink, then.” He said, shrugging as he thanked Penny and took the drinks. You didn’t miss the knowing glance from her, as if she knew it was your friendship with Rooster that had been bothering you the other night. Truth was, you wouldn’t put it past Maverick to have told her about it since you knew they had a relationship in the past, one that you could count on them rekindling.

“Sounds like a good deal to me. You gonna do any more singing?” You asked, taking a sip of your drink and watching him turn to you with an almost amused glance.

“You caught the show?”

“Briefly, not like I could have said anything. It was a different time.” A different time being about a week ago, but it was completely different. At least, in terms of where you were in life and what your relationship with Bradley Bradshaw was like. That week ago, you had fled the bar because it was too painful to see him. Now, you were sitting beside him and chatting like nothing had ever really changed.

“Good thing we don’t ever have to go back to that, isn’t it?” He asked, and though he seemed a bit teasing in tone, you could see how sincere he was from the look in his eyes. He didn’t have to say much for you to know that he missed you just as much as you missed him.

You could only sigh and let your head lean against his shoulder, his arm fluidly wrapping around your waist. You’d both been a bit touchy-feely as friends before, but something felt different now. Perhaps it was just because you both knew what the pain of being apart was like, or perhaps it was just because you missed being able to hug, but either way, something had shifted.

“I’ll put on a show on one condition.”

“What’s that, Bradshaw?”

“You sing with me.”

You nearly choked on your drink, glancing at him with a nervous expression in your eyes. “Isn’t it already weird that I’m here with the recruits?”

“You’re literally younger than Hangman.”

“True, but…” You couldn’t really think of any excuse other than that. You had been assigned to teach Top Gun, but you weren’t really a teacher, just sort of… an instructor. At the end of the day, you had no say in who was going to be on the mission and who wasn’t. Maverick had that authority, so who would it hurt if you let loose and had some fun with people your own age for once? Plus, you really did want to sing with Rooster, you’d always loved doing Karaoke with each other before.

“Is your silence a good sign?” He questioned, a big smile covering his face as one finally broke out on yours. It really only took one nod for him to drag you to your feet and take the plug out of the jukebox. You could see Penny deciding against scolding the both of you out of the corner of your eyes, and followed Bradley to the piano.

The first song he chose wasn’t really a duet, nor did either of you take turns when it came to singing. Phoenix had come to sing with you, Fanboy had sung a bit too. It wasn’t until the third song that you’d sung with him that it became more personal. A duet, a practiced one, too - it was the song you both instantly went to during karaoke. Slightly romantic, but not enough to make you spill your guts to him. This time, however, it felt different - just as everything else did. You wanted to spill your guts to him, you wanted to do it right in front of the entire bar just so they knew that he was loved. But as you looked at him, as he held eye contact with you while he sang, you just couldn’t. You’d only just gotten him back, how could you risk it?

Eventually, though, Penny insisted on plugging the jukebox in because some patrons no longer wanted to hear your beautiful voices. And both you and Bradley were off looking for things to do again.

“Hey, I’ll be back - I’m going to the bathroom.” You said, edging away from him for a moment. The entire night you’d been attached at the hip, so you could see him starting to glance around for something to do before nodding once he found Hangman and Bob nearing the end of a competitive pool game.

“Alright, see you in a few.”

As you stepped into the bathroom, you fully intended on getting into one of the stalls and allowing the call of nature before you heard Phoenix speak from the sink.

“I know it’s probably none of my business, but woman to woman, is everything okay with you and Rooster?” She asked, having just finished washing her own hands as she looked at you. You’d become friendly with Phoenix over the past week. While this was your first time spending much time with her off base, since thus far you hadn’t spent time with anyone out of work hours, you had become friends. So it came as no surprise that she was asking such a question.

“Everything’s okay now.” You answered, watching her wait for more of an explanation. You only sighed and glanced down at your feet. “I’m sure you know that Maverick pulled Rooster’s papers?”

“Yeah, he told me.”

“Right, well, Rooster and I were best friends. I was also close with Maverick, and he didn’t do anything to interfere with my time in the Navy. Rooster… blamed me. He was upset, and angry, and I didn’t bother to fight him on it, and we weren’t friends. Things are better now, he apologized, I apologized-”

“I think what I mean to say is… are you in love with him?”

“What?” You sputtered out, your eyes wide as you looked at her, a smile covering her lips as she approached you. The smile was understanding, genuine, akin to the one you’d gotten from Penny.

“I see the way you look at him. I think you should go for it, if my opinion counts for anything.” The one thing you’d been worried about was how other people would react to you being with him - the one thing, outside of his reaction, that is. But if other people didn’t bat an eye at a romance between yourself and Bradley, why should you?

“Your opinion counts for everything, Phoenix.” You answered, smiling back at her as you finally nodded. “I’ve been in love with him for a long time, I just don’t know how to tell him.”

“Tell him soon, we could all die on this mission and you don’t want to miss that chance. He clearly loves you back.” She said, slinking out of the room before you had a chance to question how she knew that.

A few more minutes was spent in the bathroom before you finally stepped back out, being greeted by Bradley the second you started to look for him. “Everyone went home after Bob won the pool game, you wanna get out of here too?” He asked, playing with the keys in his hand. The keys you recognized too well, from the car you hadn’t seen in a very long time.

“What did you have in mind?”

“Sleep, personally.”

“Sounds perfect.” The moment you were out of the bar, and into Bradley’s car, was when you realized just how tired you were. A yawn escaped your throat as he pulled out of the parking lot and drove to where his assigned room was, rather close to the bar anyway.

“Do you want me to take you to where they put you, or do you want to come in?” He asked, watching you with what you could only describe as caution. As if he wasn’t crossing some kind of boundary. You’d both always fallen asleep together before, sleeping together wasn’t the issue, it was that you had only just rekindled your friendship. But to you, that wasn’t an issue.

“I think I’d like to come in, yeah. You’ll just have to take me to change tomorrow morning.” You said, shrugging as you stepped out of the car.

“That I can do. We’re not in the Naval Academy anymore, our clothes don’t even match.” He said, walking with you to where he was staying, and quickly collapsing into bed. His bathing suit shorts weren’t at all wet anymore, and your bathing suit was dry as well. You were both pretty exhausted, so you wasted no time in shutting the lights off and getting into bed together.

“Yeah, and Vice Admiral Tight-Ass will have me fired on the spot.” You said, rolling your eyes as you turned to face him. The lighting was rather dim, but you could still see each other. You could see Bradley clearly as he turned to face you as well, your eyes locking together. “Be glad you don’t have to deal with him directly. Real stickler for the rules. It’s horrible.” You complained, watching the corner’s of his eyes crinkle as he smiled.

“We’ll deal with those tight-ass vice admiral’s together after this mission.” He said, your heartbeat speeding up at bit at his words.

“Promise?”

“I’m not leaving you again. I promise.” Your own smile covered your face as you leaned against him, letting his arms encircle around you as your head resting in the crook of his neck. Neither of you worried much about the alarm, knowing that he most likely had one set every day for the same time. And for the first time since you’d arrived there, you slept well in the arms of your best friend, not worried about the past - but looking toward the future.

The next morning was almost like a race against time as Bradley and yourself rushed around to try and get from one place to another and simultaneously look like you hadn’t spent the night together. But, it was well worth it since you made it to the base on time and he ended up getting there a little bit early. Your briefing with Cyclone was short, as it always was. He was very hands-on, in quite possibly the most annoying way. Of course, you understood he was doing his job, but having him breath down the necks of yourself and Maverick while you tried to explain your lesson for the day was one of the more tedious things you’d been forced to do since you joined the Navy.

By the time you made it to briefing, you were thoroughly irritated by your conversations with Cyclone, but not enough to let it show to anyone else. At least, anyone else that didn’t know you - Maverick and Rooster caught the annoyed glances every time Cyclone tried to interject in the lesson.

“This lesson is going to be a little different, though.” Maverick said, turning to face you as you knitted your eyebrows together. “You’re going to fly backseat.”

“I am?” You questioned, glancing to the papers you’d read to Cyclone earlier that morning. Papers which said nothing, absolutely nothing, about you flying backseat. You’d only flown in the backseat maybe two or three times, so you being in that position wasn’t something you were well-trained for.

“Apex, who was the only person you’ve flown back seat for?”

“You, but-”

“Apex here was my backseater a week ago when I did a Mach Ten training exercise.” He explained, your face softening on the confused expression as you started to realize where he was going with this. “I need you to help one of them, since you know what it’s like first hand. If anyone can stop someone from passing out, it’s you.”

It made a lot more sense as he explained it, as you remembered the F18 you were in crashing to the ground. You were the one that woke up Maverick, the one that made sure you weren’t too badly on fire, and the one that stayed completely calm under pressure when you started to burn in. Of course he wanted to you do the same for someone else, since he knew first hand that it was helpful to have you there.

“You’ll be backseater for Hangman and Rooster, is that okay?” You glanced to Cyclone for approval, he seemed ambivalent about it, which you took as a yes, or as close to a yes as you were going to get from that man.

“Yes, sir.” You responded, glancing toward the two men who you would be flying with. Rooster seemed just a little bit excited, while Hangman didn’t seem to care either way. Of course, the smug look that was always on his face remained, but you were pretty sure that was just how he looked at this point.

Soon enough, you were out of the briefing room and in your first F18 of the day. “I’ve gotta ask, how horrible is this going to feel?” Hangman asked, offering assistance (which you rejected) into his F18, before climbing into the front. “I don’t think it’s going to feel very good but… am I going to think I’m dying?”

“Yeah, you’re probably going to think you’re dying.” You caught him looking back at you, obviously expecting a joking expression on your face before seeing you completely serious. You noted the small smile dropping from his lips, replaced with concern. “Don’t worry too much about it, you’re a good pilot, and you’re already fast. If me and Maverick can survive it, you can too.”

“Maverick is a better pilot-”

“You can’t think like that in the air, Maverick has more experience, that doesn’t make him better.” You responded, watching him getting ready to take flight as he was given the signs to do so from the men on the ground. It was definitely interesting having a conversation with Hangman, especially considering he was never really the nicest person in the room.

“Surprised you’re being so nice to me, I didn’t think you liked me very much.” He said, putting his goggles down as you did the same.

“You’re not so bad, just cocky.” You answered, shrugging as you watched the smile return to his face. It was almost like that smile was a permanent fixture of his features, but it definitely wasn’t the feature that someone could have on their face for the rest of their lives.

Within a few minutes, you were both masked up and in the air. The flight was nerve-wracking and you were almost glad you weren’t flying it solo. But you could see the tension radiating off of Hangman as you got closer to the target, But things didn’t go the way you wanted them to, and absolutely nobody hit the target. While Hangman had time to cool off after it, you were back into another F18 the second your feet touched the ground, this time with Rooster.

“How was the last one?” He asked, glancing back at you as you fasted yourself into the aircraft, glancing forward with a raised eyebrow.

“I don’t know, I didn’t have time to ask how he was doing.” You responded, glancing out at the runway as you watched Hangman pace around. “I almost passed out, though.”

“Are you sure you can do it twice?”

“One can only hope.”

There was obvious concern on his face, but you brushed it aside as you leaned forward to rest a hand on his shoulder. You could feel his hand covering your own for a moment before he got the signal in his ear that it was time to take off. You leaned back, glancing around to ensure that you were ready for take off, before leaning back in your seat.

Just like the last one, things didn’t go as planned. But you couldn’t help the way that you watched Rooster, the concern in your body as he missed the target. You didn’t want him to feel bad, or to feel like it was his fault, but you knew there was a chance of that anyway.

But the time to think about it was not as he pulled up, not as you felt yourself slipping closer and closer to unconsciousness. “You good back there Apex?” He questioned, the sound of his voice in your earpiece perking you up a bit.

“Fine, I’m fine.” You answered, not really feeling completely with the program as you felt your body getting lighter and lighter - despite the weight being applied to it being heavier and heavier. Any second longer and you surely would’ve passed out, but once you were back on the ground, you felt reality coming back to you a bit more.

“Let’s get you to a doctor.” Rooster said, quickly climbing out of the aircraft as he helped you out, walking with his arm slung around you to whoever could get you to see someone to help.

“I’m fine-”

“You’re gonna be fine, once someone checks you out.” As out of it as you were, it felt good to know that he was protective enough about you to want you to get medical help. But that medical help would never come as people came running down the hallways, as you heard Cyclone yelling something about a bird strike. Whatever dizziness or tiredness you were feeling quickly sobered up as the very terrifying reality of a burn in entered your mind.

You shared a glance with Rooster as you both followed where everyone else was running to, watching everything that was happening in the control room. Coyote had been falling, from what you had heard, It seemed as though he had passed out from the rate in which he was flying. Unsurprising that such a thing could happen, but the distraction of him falling had stopped anyone from monitoring that there may have been a flock of birds nearby.

They’d taken out an engine within the aircraft that held Phoenix and Bob, and left them scrambling to try and recover. But it was becoming increasingly clear that this was impossible. You could feel your fingernails digging into the soft flesh of your hand, trying to hide the nerves radiating off of you as you watched from afar.

It made you feel guilty. Guilty that you had been put in the sky with Hangman and Rooster, who had a lot less trouble staying awake than Coyote did. And even as Phoenix and Bob safely ejected, and had search and rescue coming to take them to the hospital, that guilt didn’t leave your body. Had they died out there, and you’d been standing around on the base not doing anything, you would’ve blamed yourself completely.

Before your thoughts could spiral too far, you were pulled into Cyclone’s office. Cyclone, who looked like he was ready to tear someone’s head off. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, Maverick joined you in the office. “Do either of you realize what could’ve happened today?”

“I do, sir.” You responded, taking the forefront since he had made it clear that he liked you more than he liked Maverick. But whatever preference he had was out of the window as he glared at you both.

“Can I ask why you were backseater for two men who were more experienced than Coyote was?” He questioned, leaning forward. You could feel yourself shrinking smaller as his eyes locked with yours, feeling like you were a school child being scolded by the principal for making an inappropriate joke in class. This, however, was much worse than facing potential detention - Cyclone had the ability to resign you from flying ever again. To ground you, permanently, over a mistake.

“Apex was only following my instructions, sir.” Maverick answered, stepping forward. “I would have had her with Coyote too, if I didn’t believe it would have been too much for a human body to withstand.”

“Following your instructions, but she isn’t a student?” He questioned, standing up from his chair. “Let me ask you this, Apex, had you been the one instructing this course, what would you have done differently?”

“I-” You cut off, glancing at Maverick before looking back over at Cyclone. It was clear he was waiting for an answer, but the answer wasn’t coming. “I would’ve flown mission myself, sir.”

You could tell this was the answer he was looking for, from the almost satisfied expression on his face. But he resigned to sitting back in the chair. “Phoenix and Bob are in the hospital as we speak, there will be updates on their condition within the hour. You, Apex, would be in the hospital yourself had it not been for their burn in.”

Maverick’s head snapped to look at you, as your face rested in your hand. “I told Rooster I’m fine.” You mumbled, glancing at the ground before looking at both of them. “I’m fine.”

“What happened?” Maverick questioned, looking between you both for some kind of answer as to what he had missed while he was in the sky.

“The human body can’t handle two flights like that, not just three. She was on the verge of passing out upon landing.” It made you a bit nervous knowing that he had seen how close you were standing with Rooster, knowing something like that could be considered unprofessional. But with a wave of a hand, the entire idea of that had been dismissed. “But that’s neither here nor there. Training for the day is over, both of you can await news on Phoenix and Bob with the others and send them home for the night.”

With that, you were both dismissed. You hadn’t made it down even one hallway before Maverick pulled you into a corner. “Why didn’t you tell me you weren’t up for it?”

“I didn’t… consider it?”

“You didn’t consider it? How could you not consider it?” He asked, clearly infuriated that you had put yourself in danger like that.

“Aren’t you always telling everyone not to think while they’re in the air? I do what I’m told, and I do it well. I’m fine, Mav.” You responded, holding his gaze for a moment longer before seeing the hardness of his expression fade away.

“Don’t get yourself hurt like that again, no matter what I tell you.” He responded, moving away from you before walking to where he had been expecting everyone else to wait. “Which of them had a better grasp of it?”

“I’d say it was about even. They both have their strengths, but Hangman is a bit more reckless. I could tell he was beating himself up for missing the target more.” You responded, sitting down in the apparently empty room. “You know I’m partial to Rooster, I don’t see why you would ask about him.”

“Because I want to know how he’s doing.” He responded, but from the way he phrased it, you knew what the true meaning behind that was.

“We’re fine, we’re-” You cut yourself off, glancing down at your shoes. “We’re good, Maverick.” You asked him, watching a smile cover his face. You knew he blamed himself for you not being friends with Bradley for so long, he made it incredibly clear to you that he believed it was entirely his fault that the both of you weren’t friends. So you were positive that he was overjoyed, and relieved, that you were both close again.

“Are you still in love with him?” He asked, sitting beside you. A groan escaped your lips causing a laugh to tumble from his in response.

“What are we, high schoolers?”

“No, we’re adults talking out our emotions. Penny and I are trying again, I want to know if you’re ever going to try. Neither of you are getting any younger.” As blunt as his response had been, you knew he was just trying to be fully honest with you. And truthfully, he was entirely right.

“Yes, I’m still in love with him. I never stopped being in love with him.” You answered, glancing around the room as you became suddenly conscious of the fact that anyone could walk in. “I feel like I had this exact conversation with Phoenix last night.”

“Maybe if you didn’t look at him like he hung the moon, people wouldn’t catch on so easily.” He teased, watching you reach into your pocket and grab a pen, tossing it at him. Of course, he dodged it and only laughed harder at your completely embarrassed expression.

“I don’t-”

The sound of boots in the hallway stopped your conversation short, your smile falling back into nervousness as Warlock walked in. “Phoenix and Bob are okay, they’re being kept overnight for observation. You’re both dismissed for the night.” He said, letting you both go.

Yourself and Maverick split up, finding where everyone else had gone, and letting them know the news and that they were free to go for the night. While you left your last room, you watched Maverick do the same. There was something on his expression, something that told you that something bad had happened. You watched Warlock glance from you to Maverick, before Rooster walked out of the room.

“Ice is gone.” Maverick mumbled, walking in the other direction. The funeral had been planned extensively, something you had learned when Maverick came back from his visit with him. You knew that it was going to be soon, probably the next day or so. But with that in mind, you could only take Rooster’s side as you glanced at Warlock. He could only give you a sad glance, as he went in the same direction as Maverick.

You never really knew Iceman, you met him once or twice, but had never been overly friendly with him. He seemed like a good man, a man who looked out for the people he cared about. You couldn’t help the feeling of sadness that came over you following the news of the death, the initial shock of it wearing off as you felt Rooster wrap his arm around you, walking outside with you following.

“I don’t know what this means for the mission.” You said, getting into his car, feeling the overwhelming feeling of dread fill you. “Or my career.”

“What do you mean?”

“Ice is why Maverick was invited here in the first place, and now Cyclone is pissed

dancing with our hands tied

PAIRING lieutenant bradley ‘rooster’ bradshaw/afab!mitchell!reader

SUMMARY you can’t hide a relationship with bradley bradshaw from your father forever

WARNINGS light smut, oral sex (f receiving), gendered terms, awkward situation

REQUESTEDyes/no

WORD COUNT 2.8k words

i just want to set the scene because i had a very particular scenery in mind while writing this but you know that kinda humid but not too humid mid 70s summer day where the sky is kinda pink before sunset and the smell of the shift in the ozone before the rain is in the air? that’s the setting for this in my brain, it changes nothing but there you go. enjoy! :)

The feeling of a mustache rubbing against your neck as Bradley kissed down the sensitive flesh left your brain nearly completely numb as your arms wrapped against him, your back pressed against the wall of your bedroom. It was probably the millionth time Bradley Bradshaw had been in your bedroom, neither of you took any notice of the posters lining your wall or the way your hand reached out to flip the collector vinyl of an Elvis album down because “It’s weird to make out with Elvis Presley watching over us.”. He’s done this with you a million times before, never once had either of you been caught.

“Isn’t it weird to hide this from my dad?” You asked, feeling a sigh fall against the column of your neck as Bradley looked up at you. 

“Is it weird for you?” He asked, his hand placed against your cheek as his thumb stroked the bone under your eye. Your head automatically leaned into his touch as you looked at him, as your eyes completely softened while you took in the appearance of the one and only man you allowed into your childhood bedroom. 

“Nothing is ever weird with you.” You mumbled, a smile gracing your lips as he leaned down to capture them within his own. Ever since your father, one Pete Mitchell, had rekindled the bond between himself and Bradley, the two of you had been practically inseparable. Your dad was always off with Penny now that they were back together, and since you were only home for the summer from college and old enough to drink, he had no real issue leaving you to your own devices in the house. What was the worst thing you could possibly do? 

As the kiss deepened, you could feel it becoming more and more erratic as Bradley pulled your hips flush against yours, as his tongue caressed your bottom lip and you lost track of which spit belonged to you and which didn’t. It wasn’t a particularly hot day, in fact, you were pretty sure a storm would be rolling in within the hour, but the entire room felt like it was on fire as you brought one of your hands to the top of Bradley’s head, your fingers tangling in his hair as his own hand squeezed your backside. 

It didn’t take very long for you to lose the feeling of the wall against you completely, as you allowed Bradley to back you both up until he reached the bed. You pulled back from his lips for a moment as you let him fall back against the pillows, you climbing on top of him. He held your hips as you straddled his waist, leaning back down to kiss him again. As your body fell against his, you could feel him traveling down your neck again. 

No matter how many times Bradley Bradshaw kissed your neck, he never left a mark that would last more than ten minutes. It wasn’t that either of you were embarrassed to be together, or even that you were particularly worried about what your dad would say. But neither of you were entirely sure what the nature of your relationship was. You were friends to start with, he made working in the garage a little more fun. But one day you just started making out with each other, and the next day you were exploring each other’s bodies like your lives depended upon it. 

It didn’t surprise you at all to feel his sloppy kisses remaining someone light, as he held himself back from leaving love bites on your skin. Though, you couldn’t help but fantasize about what it would feel like to trace your finger over the indentations that his teeth would leave behind, to feel the grind of his mustache against your neck as he sucked the skin above your pulse point into his mouth.

Almost unconsciously, you started to grind your hips down against his. The groan that left his throat as you moved against him sending a shock of pleasure to your clit as you rolled over him. You paid no mind to Bradley’s hands as they pushed you down further against his hips, detaching his mouth from your neck as he pulled you back into a kiss. It was incredibly sloppy, all tongue and saliva and a lot less of a practiced waltz. But you loved every moment of it, you loved the slight burn of his facial hair against your delicate skin, the way it made your heart race to wonder if anyone could tell there was hair rubbing against your upper lip. The constant reminder that it was definitely Bradley you were kissing, only making you more and more turned on as you craved him more intimately than before.

Your hands traveled under his tank top as he caught onto your desires and shrugged the floral printed shirt he was wearing off of his body. You let him reach behind you to toss the shirt into the basket at the foot of your bed as you did the same with his tank top. You could almost feel the near-smugness radiating off of him as your hands traversed the lines of his defined muscles. Truthfully, you’d never really cared that much if someone had muscles or not when you were with them - but it definitely wasn’t a turn off. Especially Bradley’s, not so big that they were intimidating but so defined that you could see the outline of them through that tank top he loved to wear. 

Bradley reached under your shirt to tug it off as well, removing your bra before he bothered to toss them both into the hamper. No matter how many times you’d seen other naked in the past few weeks, it never ceased to feel like the first time. You allowed his large, yet slightly calloused, hands to cup your breasts as you continued to grind your hips against his, biting your lip and letting out a whimper as another grunt left his mouth. 

Just as you leaned down to press your lips against his chin you saw something in his eyes, like he was planning something. Before you had the chance to ask, you felt him starting to change your positioning, following his lead as he urged you off of him so you were laying down on your back, as he wasted no time in kissing down your neck and chest. 

A whine left your mouth as his lips connected with one of your nipples, sucking it into his mouth as his tongue rolled over the hardening skin. One of his hands joined the action as it cupped your other breast, rolling your nipple between his thumb and forefinger. Your back arched against him as your hips squirmed for a bit of relief. You were positive that your panties would be soaked the moment he took your shorts off, but you knew that patience was a virtue with Bradley Bradshaw, because he was a man who would always take his time with you. 

“I’ll take care of you baby, just relax.” He said as he detached his lips from your nipple, pressing a kiss to the top of your breast as he moved up to connect your lips again. The kiss was incredibly needy as you all but clung to him, moaning into his mouth as he continued to roll your other nipple between his fingers.

However needy the kiss was, it was also incredibly slow. Not quite teasing as it was showing you how much he valued you, your pleasure, as he sucked your bottom lip into his mouth. You let your tongue meet in a slower movement than before, much more like a dance than the sloppy kisses you’d given each other while you were sitting atop of him. 

The moment he pulled back from the kiss you could hear a “Fuck,” Escape his mouth as he pressed another chaste kiss to your lips. “You look fuckin’ perfect like this.” You were sure you were a sight for sore eyes as he looked at you, your chest heaving and a slight amount of sweat settled on the skin he’d kissed over. Your eyes must’ve been blown as wide as they could possibly be as you looked up at him.

“You always look perfect, Lieutenant Bradshaw.” You noted a tint of pink coloring his cheeks upon receiving your compliment, before he broke eye contact and began to kiss down your body again. You could feel his tongue running over the curves of your breast, over the skin of your stomach as he trailed kisses down your body before finally reaching your shorts. 

“Are you positive about this?” He asked, a small smile covering your lips at his question. Even if it was probably reaching the dozen mark of times you’d slept together in the past few weeks, every single time he made sure to ask for your consent on it before he proceeded. And every single time, without fail, it caused a flutter in your stomach as your eyes held onto his. 

“Yes, I’m positive. As long as you are.” 

A smile covered his lips as he undid the button on your shorts, a shimmy of your hips helping him pull them and your panties off before they joined the rest of your clothes in the hamper by the foot of your bed. You felt him slowly spread your thighs as you tried to relax against the pillows, trying to not allow the anticipation of his tongue against your clit bother you too much as he delicately placed kisses on the insides of your thighs. 

It didn’t take too much longer to feel his hot breath against your core, his eyes locking with yours one final time as he licked a stripe from your opening to your clit. A moan escaped your throat, the pleasure only amplified as his eyes held yours as he lapped over you again, his eyes fluttering closed.

“You always taste so good,” He muttered, your lips sucked in between your teeth as his lips locked on your clit. His movements were slow but steady, almost tantalizing, as he ran delicate and careful motions over your clit. The feeling of his lips, his tongue, gracing the most sensitive part of your body had you moaning for him and breathless in no time as your eyes snapped shut, one of your hands grasping his brown hair. 

After a moment, you felt Bradley push two of his fingers into you. The wetness from your previous actions together made it easy for him to slide them in, your back arching again as you let out a moan. You felt him speed up his movements a bit as one of his arms draped over your waist once your hips started to squirm. The feeling of his hair between your hands and his mustache against your skin kept your mind firmly on Bradley as he continued to pleasure you. 

It was always shocking how attentive he was, how he spent so much time with your clit in his mouth and his fingers inside of you - focusing on your moans and doing anything in his power to make sure that he was giving you the most pleasurable experience possible. Your eyes opened slowly as you glanced down, that familiar yet confusing fluttering filling your stomach again at you watched him. 

The soft, warmness of his tongue continued to tease your clit and send shockwaves through your core as his fingers twisted and curled inside of you. At some point, he seemed to figure out which place he got the most visceral moans from as he curled his fingers into the most vulnerable and sensitive spot inside of you. 

His tongue started to speed up again, now lapping at you almost like he was a man-starved, somehow giving you the impression that he was taking your orgasm from you because he himself was craving it while also making it clear that he was giving it to you because he wanted you to feel as pleased as possible. You couldn’t stop the overflow of his name from your lips as you felt yourself growing closer and closer to an orgasm. 

Bradley detached his lips from your clit for just a moment as his fingers continued to pump in and out of you, his eyes locking with yours again as he curled them and his just the right spot to have you tugging on his hair. “That’s right baby, c-” 

Bradley’s words, and your whines of his name, were cut short as the sound of feet echoing on the stairs filled both of your ears. Your eyes blew out wide as you both got up in the most mad panic of your lives. He quickly helped you get back into your shirt and panties, just as he had you turned around while he hooked your bra, the door opened behind him.

“The storm got in the way of Penny and I’s trip, so I was wondering if you wanted to…” Utter silence filled the room as you slowly turned around, taking Bradley’s button up to cover your body as your father took a moment to process what exactly he was witnessing. “What am I missing here?” 

“I mean… I don’t think you’re missing anything, dad.” You mumbled, coughing a bit as his eyes darted between yourself and Bradley like he was working on some sort of equation that should be simple for him, but was for some reason baffling him as he tried to figure it out.

“I understand if you’re upset with us, Maverick. I crossed a-”

“No, no. I’m not upset. If anyone’s good enough for my baby girl it’s the man who saved my life.” He responded, finally coming to understand what was happening in front of him. “But I expect you to use protection, she’s too young to have her own baby. Are we understood?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Yep.”

“Great. If you can clean yourselves up we’re going to go to the grocery store before the storm, and then we’re going to have a nice long talk over dinner.” 

There was no room for debate as he left the room, shutting the door behind him as you watched Bradley. In hindsight, you were sure that your dad knew Bradley was in his house from the moment he pulled in since his car was parked out front. And since he wasn’t in the garage, the only logical explanation was that he was somewhere inside with you. The only shocking part of it would be what you were doing, which he reacted shockingly well to.

Your eyes locked with Bradley’s as you both looked at each other, trying to have some sort of mental discussion about what had just happened before a laugh sounded from your throat. You watched Bradley finally crack into a laugh too before leaning down to grab the rest of the clothing you both had yet to put on. Once you calmed down, though, and finished getting dressed, you found yourself standing in front of him again.

Bradley leaned down to press a quick and gentle kiss to your lips as you looked up at him, “Does this… does this mean we’re officially dating?” Bradley asked, turning the tables on you as he asked the question. 

“Do you want it to?” You couldn’t help how nervous you sounded as you asked, how hopeful you were sure you sounded as well. 

“I do.”

“Then yes, this means we’re officially dating.” A smile covered your mouth as he pulled you back into another kiss, but the taste of yourself in his mouth reminded you that you were both about to go have a dad talk over dinner. “Go brush your teeth, you left a toothbrush here last time.” 

As you watched Bradley walk into your bathroom, knowing fully well that you were about to have dinner with him and be able to tell your dad that he was your boyfriend without worrying about what anyone would think - you could only be glad you’d taken your time with Bradley, if only to put off the extensive dad talk you were both about to listen to.