"DONT LAUGH." SKYE MITCHELL SAID THROUGH GRITTED TEETH as she looked at her best friend through the corner of her eye. katia kazansky had a grin on her face as she wordlessly looked back at her. "if you laugh, i'll laugh."

the two girls were standing in a line among many influential men and women, and they just so happened to be a few people down from the president of the united states. unfortunately for them, they were known for being unable to be serious in a silent room.

one more glance at katia had skye snorting a small laugh, quickly attempting to cover it. the girls looked at each other once more and almost doubled over. "shut up." skye mumbled with a smile.

"i didn't say anything!" the blonde defended.

once the conference that they had been standing for was over, skye made her way over to her father. "what was that?" he laughed. "you could barely keep it together."

she shrugged her shoulders. "i learned from the best, mav."

shortly after the death of his best friend, goose, maverick mitchell hadn't necessarily been sleeping around, but.. yeah, he was sort of sleeping around. once charlie blackwood left for washington, he'd gone into something of a crisis. by the end of his escapade, he had made a woman pregnant. she had no desire to raise the baby, which left maverick to happily raise her.

skye mitchell was maverick's pride, joy, and one responsibility.

he hadn't ever considered what he would be like as a father, or if he would be a good one. it wasn't like he had too much of a father to compare himself to. but maverick loved skye as soon as he laid eyes on her. the only thing that was as beautiful or as home to him, he thought, was the sky. the e at the end was just a fun touch.

around the same time, his closest friend iceman kazansky settled down with his wife, sarah, and had a daughter. katia (named after the russian fighter pilot from ww2) and skye had been inseparable since their birth. they and bradley bradshaw, goose's son, would rarely ever be seen apart.

they all had the same dream, no matter how much any of their fathers supported it, to be fighter pilots. they supposed that it only made sense to follow in the footsteps of their fathers, and growing up around constant reminders of their legacy only made them want more to be a part of it. bradley, who was four years older than them, would frequently brag about being the first of them to get into the navy. that was kind of ironic, looking back on it.

since he was older than them, bradley would often get concerns from maverick (or iceman) about roughhousing with the girls, or tackling them in football. but they would always smile when the boy didn't do anything to make the girls feel inferior, or even to remind them that they were younger than he was. he treated them as equals always, which was probably why they felt so close to him.

their fathers had slowly changed pathways, yet they constantly remained significant forces in the navy. maverick moved to work on anything he could in san diego, planning to stay there until skye had graduated. until they were all off to enlist.

after he graduated high school, bradley sent in his papers to the naval academy. skye and katia were only freshmen in high school at the time, but they well understood how difficult it was to get in. "the acceptance rate is only 8.5%." skye had said. "for every one hundred applicants, only nine get admitted."

bradley, who was seventeen, had only smiled. "you're looking at one of the future nine."

he was angered beyond belief when maverick, who had been a father figure to him, pulled his application. maverick was always overprotective of bradley, oftentimes more than he was of skye. he felt like anything that happened to bradley was him betraying goose.

skye had been there when bradley found out about his mother dying. it had been such a difficult time for him, now that he was orphaned. maverick failed to mention to the boy that his mother, on her deathbed, made him promise to keep her son away from naval aviation. she'd never wanted bradley to fly, not after what had happened to his father.

but bradley, of course, knew none of this. he resented maverick and left. skye didn't see him again, and he didn't make any effort to contact her or to reach out. with bradley gone, skye and katia somehow became even closer. they graduated together, and they were then one step closer to their dream.

"dad," skye had sat him down, "i want to be in the navy. and i know it'll be dangerous, and risky, and all that good stuff. but it's all i've ever wanted to do." she remembered how empty of emotion his face was as she handed him the stack of papers. "i've already filled everything out on the application. all i need is your signature."

what was there to say other than that maverick mitchell had an almost embarrassing soft spot for his daughter. he'd signed her papers, and less than a couple weeks later she and katia had been accepted into the naval academy.

after his daughter moved to annapolis, maryland, maverick began to get stationed around the world doing various jobs. she had called him once during plebe summer to hear about his time in iraq, and had called again later on to hear that he was then a test pilot.

almost as soon as she'd entered the gates of the academy, skye was put into uniform and taught how to salute. her days began at dawn with an hour of exercise, and every day ended long after sunset with her wondering if she could make it through another day.

skye had almost been annoyed to hear about the required extracurriculars. "i have to take a sport?" she'd asked, looking up from the flyer in her hands and over to katia. "i did soccer and basketball in high school to avoid this." she eyed the various trifolds around their shared floor. "women's glee club? pipes and drums?"

the two had ended up taking russian together, as well as martial arts and (for one semester that they terribly regretted) women's ice hockey.

since his application had been pulled, putting him back four years, bradley was in their graduating class at the naval academy. skye didn't know what she was expecting; maybe for the boy she'd once been close to to be excited to see her, or for him to at least speak to her. whatever she'd expected, it hadn't been for him to give her the cold shoulder consistently. she'd shrugged her shoulders one night after talking about it. "it's not like i should care."

when they graduated from the naval academy at the age of twenty two, both skye and katia were granted the rank of second lieutenant and the option for housing in maryland. but skye still, as always, wasn't quite yet satisfied.

she almost immediately sent in an application for the navy's aviation officer candidate program, a half year program that intended to get her into top physical condition. it was grueling, and yet she somehow managed to pass all of her academics with top grades, receiving her commission as an ensign in the usnr.

after that, she was halfway through the door. she and katia, who had followed after her in the program, passed their flight training, then got their wings of gold, then became lieutenants. they were about four and a half years into their naval career when they were finally flying fighter jets.

skye was a quick learner when it came to.. the sky, and she was soon able to work in just about any of the aircraft around her. she was trained most proficiently, though, as a naval aviator, with katia as her weapons systems officer. the two sat in the same plane almost every day, causing as much mayhem as they possibly could.

"ready to start a riot?" skye would ask.

katia would tilt her head. "yeah, let's wreak a little havoc."

the two were then, respectfully, given the callsigns 'riot' and 'havoc'. it was completely fitting for them, given that they were known rule breakers and deviants. their deep-rooted respect for the navy, however, stopped them from copying the plane-stealing antics of the maverick before them.

despite the trouble they frequently got into (and the countless pranks they pulled), the two women were known for their precision and their skill. they were undoubtedly forces to be reckoned with, and almost everyone around them knew it.

so it wasn't a surprise when they were called into the office of a commander whose name they had heard dozens of times. the man, deadzone, they believed he was called, was known for being the man you wanted to impress. he'd pulled both women into his office at the same time, and they were nearly jumping with excitement.

"you two have been called to top gun." he'd said, and it was as if they'd been waiting their entire lives for it. on their way out of his office, skye held her fist out, smiling as katia bumped it with her own.

it was all of this that led to them standing by the president, and then to them sitting down by their fathers as they listened to some admiral or other give a speech. skye had zoned out the sound of his voice until she heard him say something about the top gun program. her eyes then shot up, and she could hear her father chuckle.

"have you been paying attention to any of this?" he asked, a playful smile on his face.

skye nodded. "yeah, of course. something about duty, dignity, honor, blue and gold-"

maverick had been beyond proud when he heard about his daughter getting sent to top gun. it was where he'd always dreamed of being, when he was her age. she now was going to be sent to the navy strike fighter tactics instructor program, where her limits would be tested and her career would truly be started.

"you recognizing anybody, kat?" she asked as she leaned closer to her wso. the two scanned the crowded room for any familiar faces, for anyone else who was in their graduating class at the naval academy. a head of blonde-ish-brown hair made skye groan. "bradshaw's here."

katia followed her gaze. "not like he'll be much of an issue, ri. it isn't like he's gonna talk to us."

she chuckled in response. "true, hav." skye couldn't bring herself to look away from him then, noticing the way that he wore his sunglasses inside the building, and the way his lips curved up over the mustache he'd somehow grown since the last time she'd seen him. he looked like goose.

"are you two going to say hi to him, or are you just going to keep staring at him in hopes that he goes away?" maverick asked after silence fell over the table.

skye was the first to turn to look at him. "mav, i-"

"i know it's been a while." he argued. "but you three used to be so.. inseparable. what happened?"

"he got emo." his daughter replied, making katia chuckle.

"cut the crap." ice said. "go talk to him."

skye stood from her seat. "you know what, what the hell, right?" she straightened the creases that had formed in the top of her uniform as she led the way to the bar, katia barely a step behind her. they sat at the bar stools, fully aware of the specific lieutenant that sat adjacent to them.

"what exactly is the goal here?" the blonde pilot asked, accepting the drink that the bartender offered her.

the brunette shrugged her shoulders. "that either he talks to us first or we can just tell our dads we tried our best."

they didn't have to wait too long before bradley stood, moving towards the bar. he was talking to the bartender for a minute before he finally noticed the two women. "skye? katia?" he asked, lowering his sunglasses as a smile spread onto his lips.

skye gave him a two fingered salute. "the one and only." she confirmed, taking a sip of her drink. "how've you been, bradley?"

he grinned. "i've been pretty good. i see you guys got your wings?"

"i see you've got yours." skye countered.

she'd been much closer to him than katia had, since katia was frequently much more shy and less outgoing in comparison. skye wasn't ever bothered by hanging out with people older than her, or with guys. in fact, she often wondered if katia was her only friend that was her age and also was a woman.

because of her tendency to treat everyone around her as one of her 'bros', skye had grown easily close to bradley. he'd always treated her as an equal as well, while katia was more of a little sister to him, as he'd told them once.

but things didn't always last, skye knew, and her friendship with bradley was so far gone that she could barely remember anything about him. like why didn't she remember his smile looking like that? the one thing she could never forget, though, was how happy he'd always made her, how content she'd always felt when she was in his presence. some things didn't change.

"yeah, i just got out of the academy." bradley confirmed with a lopsided smile. "so i take it you're both headed to top gun, too?"

"you know it." katia finally spoke.

this made the man smile. "so, you guys are both.. what, aviators?"

skye took another swig of her drink. "i am. hav can do just about anything, but she's been my wso for the past year."

bradley's brows furrowed, but his smile didn't falter. "so what are your call signs, then?" he asked, having picked up on the new nickname,

"riot."

"havoc."

he nodded. "yeah, those check out. i'm rooster."

skye couldn't help but smile. "yeah? it suits you."

rooster smiled. "thanks." they were silent for a couple moments before he cleared his throat. "so, have you both.. have you stayed close, then?"

"yeah, sometimes friends don't stop talking to each other, it's crazy." skye replied sarcastically.

a brief moment of hurt flashed in rooster's eyes, and if skye hadn't been scanning them for a reaction then she would've never noticed it. "hey, i'm sorry about that. i guess i just.."

she shook her head. "past is past, rooster." she used his call sign for the first time. "we can talk about it later, when our dads aren't all staring us down."

bradley followed her gaze to the table in the far corner of the room, where ice and mav both then pretended to be looking at the ceiling, or at absolutely anything but the three pilots.

skye smiled as she got up from the barstool. "it is nice to see you again, bradley."

his smile, she couldn't help but notice, was genuine. "it's good to see you, too, skye."

when the two women walked away, skye groaned. "holy shit, this is gonna be weird."