Phoenix turned her head, looking at each end of the so far empty hallway, anxiously rolling on the balls of her feet back and forth, softly nibbling on her bottom lip nervously. The sound of zippers zipping back up sounding from behind her. "Are you guys almost done?" She questioned, leaning slightly more towards the door of the janitors closet. Phoenix heard a softly muttered 'yes'.

A thin layer of sweat was making it quite difficult for Dakota to pull her spandex back up her slightly shaking legs. She leaned her back against the door, swallowing harshly as she finally got them past the curve of her ass. Rooster watched her, a smug look on his tanned features, his fingers leaving the zipper of his jumpsuit.

"Need some help sweetheart?" He questioned, although he didn't wait for an answer as he bent down, pulling the jumpsuit that was piled around her ankles up her toned legs. He was squatted down in front of her, (which gave her flashbacks to the activities they pursued just a few minutes prior. His lips placed sweet kisses on her shins, trailing them up her knees, her thighs, where he nudged them open ever so slightly, sucking harshly on the flesh, his teeth nibbling, causing her to gasp quietly at the feeling, her fingers automatically threading in his sun kissed hair, pulling on his roots. The dim pain was quickly soothed by the feeling of his warm lips, his tongue darting out and smoothing over her skin. "God I'll never get tired of tasting you," she heard him mutter, although her hearing wasn't dependable, being deafened by the stinging feeling of his mustache.

Dakota whimpered ever so quietly at his words, reigniting the dimmed spark in her lower stomach. Her eyes that were closed tightly opened, her breathing erratic once more as she felt him tug her jumpsuit up her legs, watching as his smug look that was plastered over his face was now gone, being replaced by an indescribable look. His hazel eyes soft as he gazed up at her from his place on the floor, his cheeks dashed with a light tint of pink, his hair tousled, large curls placed on his forehead. Her heart clenched as she just looked at him, taking in his god-like features, wanting to burn the sight of him, in this moment, in her mind.

She watched as he stood up, now towering over her 5'9 frame, making her look up at him through her eyelashes.

He tugged her jumpsuit up to her waist now, his rough fingers brushing over her naval, making her inhale sharply. Once again, her eyes were fixated on his face, his now softened features as he grabbed her right arm and placed it in the sleeve of her jumpsuit, and doing the same with the other. She felt her stomach flip at just how gentle he was being with her.

Once he pulled the fabric over her shoulders, fingers brushing over her marked up collarbones in the process, his hand went up and cupped her cheek, the other trailing down to rest firmly on her hip bone. "You okay pretty girl?" His deep voice questioned, eyes meeting hers as a soft smile pulled at his lips. She nodded, biting her lip, trying to hide just how big the smile was that she was fighting off. "Mhm," she muttered, bringing her hand up to cup his jawline, her thumb tracing over the small scars that decorated his face perfectly. "'m good Rooster."

His hand that sat on her hipbone tightened its grip ever so slightly, making her squeal, a playful smile on his lips, making his the corner of his eyes crinkle, her heart soared at the sight. "Oh so it's Rooster now?" He spoke in a teasing tone, his head ducking down to where her neck and shoulder met, his mustache tickling her as his breath fanned over her sensitive skin. "Well what else would you prefer me to call you?" She said quietly, scared to talk too loudly in fear he's just going to disappear from her fingertips.

"Well I don't know I was thinking more along the lines of-" pounding on the door cut him off, the wood in which she leaned on vibrating with the sound. "Will you two hurry up! Mav wants me in the air in 10 minutes and Bob has already texted me saying he's shitting his pants." Phoenix said sternly from the other side other side of the door. Dakota sighed heavily, as Rooster laid his forehead on her shoulder, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her body into his. "Okay! Okay! Relax Nat we're coming." She said, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah I know, I heard you guys cumming earlier," Phoenix retorted back, her eyes landing on the couple, as her best friend zipped up her jumpsuit, hands going up to her hair to make sure her tight bun was still in place. Dakota's cheeks were flushed a vibrant red, as Rooster walked out from behind her, his hand tilting her jaw up as he placed his lips on hers, "See you later, yeah?" He said, as he was already on his was to the wreck room, where the rest of the pilots who weren't flying were sat. She nodded, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

Phoenix stood in front of her friend, her hands on her hips as her tongue traced the inside of her cheek, an eyebrow raised. "You guys took your sweet time you know it?"

"Well I would say I'm sorry but-" "Yeah yeah please spare me the details, Mustang." She waved her hand as the two of them took of towards the locker room, Phoenix in need of her helmet and flight gear. The curly haired female chuckled, "I wasn't even gonna tell you!" She exclaimed playfully, as she leaned on the locker next to Phoenix's, her head leaning on the cool metal, the deep contrast with her heated skin.

The shorter female closed her locker, a small smile on her lips, "In my defense I can never tell with you." She said as she walked out of the locker room. Dakota hummed in agreement, a grin on her lips as the two walked out of the locker room.

"The best of luck to the best fighter pilot in the world! May I bestow it for thou flight sequence?" Dakota said dramatically, bowing before Phoenix. She fought the smile that was threatening to appear, "Thou shall, Mustang. Thou shall."

-

Dakota walked through the door of the wreck room, her legs aching dimly with each step she took. Her eyes met with Payback's who were widened slightly at the sight of her. She quirked her head, and sent him a small smile as she made her way over to him on the couch. "You good Payback? You seem stunned." She said, her eyebrows furrowing.

He shifted, his hands running along his thighs as he cleared his throat, "Yeah I'm good. Just didn't get good sleep last night." He smile weakly at her, as he threw an arm along the back of the couch. "Are you okay? You're all flushed." She nodded her head, feeling more blood rush to her cheeks, "Yeah, yeah 'm good. Just was almost late so I ran from the parking lot." She brushed it off, yet she was still slightly suspicious of her friend's suddenly weird behavior. Her eyes trailed over to Rooster who was sat on the couch across from them, his thighs spread wide, his hands placed lazily in his lap, how did he look so nonchalant after what the two of them did this morning.

She sent a sly smile his was once their eyes met. Dakota saw the corner of her mouth quirk slightly, yet his jaw clenched, as he moved his gaze away from her, to Yale who sat next to him, busy telling him a story about one of his missions from his squadron he had to fly. Her eye brows furrowed once more at him. Weird.

"Yo!" Fanboy spoke from behind them, as he jumped the back of the couch and plopped next to her, a bright smile on his face. She sent a genuine smile his way, having a soft spot for him since they were both in Top Gun. "Hey Fanboy, how're you doing?" She said, leaning more into Payback who seemed to not be as awkward as he was before. He leaned down on the couch, his legs stretched out across their laps, making both of them chuckle lightly. "I'm doing good, lowkey kinda tired but y'know, guess that's part of it though." He shrugged, a bright smile still on his lips, the corner of his eyes crinkling. The three of them engaged in conversation, occasional laughs coming from them as they spoke.

Dakota always loved the pair of pilots. Ever since they quite literally surrounded her in the Hard Deck one night, successfully saving her from some unwanted attention from onlookers. Ever since then the three of them have been closer than the other pilots. Of course not closer than her and Phoenix, but nonetheless closer. The two men made her feel safe, never failing to make her laugh, even on her worse days. But they weren't Bradley.

The voices of Maverick, Coyote, Phoenix and Bob sounded through the radio. The pilots in the room either listening, looking out the window or both. She knew her friend had a handle on the flight simulation so she wasn't worried whatsoever. So, she didn't fine the need to be listening to the radio like some of the pilots were, and instead just continued to be in conversation with the two men. Yet, every so often her eyes would drift over to the man sat across from her; her heart fluttering every time their eyes met.

Payback's voice become distant, once she noticed all the other pilots gathering around the small radio, listening to a distressed sounding Maverick, concern lacing with his voice as he yelled.

"Coyote do you copy?" Maverick said through the radio her heart dropped, expecting the worst. She got up from the couch and made her way to the radio along with Payback and Fanboy. "Coyote, come in." Her fingers wrapped around the edge of the foosball table. "Coyote level wings!" She could hear the strain in his voice. "Oh my god he's in g-lock." He muttered, and she felt her heart drop.

"Coyote! Coyote!" "He's gonna burn in." Phoenix said, worry laced in her voice. "I'm going after him." Maverick said, Dakota's fingers tightening around the edge of the foosball table, her head aching with the worst thoughts imaginable. "C'mon! Gimme tone, gimme tone, gimme tone!" She heard the missile tone blaring, the air in the wreck room thick with tension, as every other pilot in the room were gathered around the little radio.

Dakota heard Maverick yell at him constantly, desperate for him to wake up. Her knuckles were white, as her grip tightened even more. Her nerves on edge, small beads of sweat accumulating on the bridge of her nose in anticipation, she held her breath as she heard silence.

"Coyote you okay? You okay?" Heavy breathing, "I'm okay, I'm good." Coyote said. She released the tense breath she was holding, closing her eyes. She felt a presence behind her, causing her to look back slightly at the person.

Rooster stood behind, his jaw set and his breathing heavy, also from the anticipation of the events that they had just listened to. His eyes met hers, sending her a small, comforting smile as she turned back around to face the radio, inhaling deeply.

"That's enough for today." Maverick stated sternly. "That was close," Phoenix said, and Dakota could hear the 'no shit' tone evident in her voice. A heavy exhale, "Too close." A small moment of silence engulfing the pilots who were still gathered around the radio.

"Bird strike! Bird strike!" She heard Maverick yell through the comms, causing her nerves to spike all over again. "Bird strike!" And that's when Dakota felt her heart and stomach drop to the floor. "Phoenix the left engine's on fire!" She gasped quietly, a sweaty hand shooting up and covering her mouth. "Climbing!" Phoenix's shaky voice spoke.

Now Dakota was never one to be religious, but in this moment she found herself saying a quick prayer; desperate times, she told herself.

"Throttling back, shutting off fuel to left engine." She spoke sternly trying so hard to stay calm. Dakota's breathing damn right erratic at this point, heart beating out of her chest, as she could do nothing but listen to her friend. "Extinguishing fire." She could hear the various blares of alarms that rang through the canopy. "Right engine's out!" Bob's panicked voice said.

"It's still spinning, try to restart it." She felt a soft hand place itself on the small of her back. She looked at Rooster, knowing it was him just by how warm his touch was. He sent her a sympathetic look, his eyes soft as he gazed down at her. But she wasn't focused on that, she was focused on the fact that her friend could quite possibly die. "The engine's on fire! Don't-" "Straddling up."

"Oh my god." She heard Maverick mutter, making tears sting behind her eyes.  "We're on fire! We're on fire!" Bob's strained voice yelled. "Extinguishing right engine!" Phoenix said. C'mon Natasha, c'mon. She closed her eyes, her mind just listening to her friend struggle. She felt Rooster drop his hand from her waist to hers, interlacing their fingers and squeezing. This only made more tears build up behind her eyelids.

"Phoenix, Bob push out! Push out!" Maverick yelled. "I can't control it." She heard Phoenix say, causing the pained tears to fall out of the corners of her closed eyes, her breathing becoming heavy. "We're going down Phoenix! We're going in! We're going in!" Bob yelled, panic in his voice. Dakota gasped, tasting salty tears on her tongue as she licked her lips. "You can't save it. Eject! Eject!" Maverick yelled.

Everyone in the room was silent, expect for the quiet gasps for air sounding from Dakota; as she tried so, so hard to keep it together in front of everyone. Her chest ached as she held in the sea of tears, her hand squeezed Rooster's tightly. No one knew what to say, as they all sprawled out around the room, sitting down, hands in their hands as they processed what just happened. She felt Rooster let go of her hand though, as the bodies of pilots left, making their intertwined hands more visible.

This only pained her more, making the feeling of constantly getting stabbed in the heart over and over again washed over her.

PAIGE SPEAKS

ngl... i lowkey geared up writing this. and yes i know i know how the movie goes but STILLLL writing phoenix for this long and then writing this scene, i'm just so much more starched to her😔😔😔

also guys... we have hit 5K VOTES. WHAT THE FUCK😳😳 never in my right mind would i have imagined me having a book and it hitting 5k votes and over 150k reads. you guys are just too kind to me i swear, y'all make me cry🥹🥹🥹

MUCH LOVE <3333