"WHAT DO YOU SAY WE CELEBRATE OUR VICTORY?" ROOSTER ASKED with a boyish grin on his face as he, skye, and katia arrived back on base. 

skye smiled, taking her helmet off. "what do you have in mind, lieutenant?" 

he shrugged his shoulders. "couple drinks. on me!" he then laughed, hoping it would make them be more persuaded to agree. "hard deck, couple rounds, all on me. just the three of us hangin' out." 

katia made a sort of wince sound effect. "sorry, guys. fang and i are going there tonight." 

rooster gave her a look. "what?" his smile faded for a second before an idea came to him. "it's a double date, then!" 

skye almost choked on her own saliva. "it's a what?"

he laughed. "not like that, riot, just.. the four of us, then. all hanging out. just bros being bros."

she rolled her eyes. "okay, fine. if you don't mind us intruding, that is." she then directed to katia, who promptly shook her head. 

"no, i'm cool with you guys being there. jake said there might be more people too, i think hangman might show up." 

"jake." rooster mumbled mockingly, a playful smile on his face. "okay, yeah. it's a plan, then." with that, he headed for his own showers, leaving the two women to head to their lockers. 

katia gave skye a look. "it's a date?" she commented, bringing up rooster's previous word choice. 

the other girl groaned. "yeah, i know. why'd he have to say it like that?"

"because he doesn't see you as a sister anymore, i'm calling it right now." katia replied, dodging skye's hand as it reached out to hit her on the head. 

"you saying that isn't going to change anything."

she shrugged. "maybe not. i can still point it out, though."

skye, desperate to change the subject, rolled her eyes. "so, you and jake? do i get to finally talk to the guy today?"

katia then smiled. "yeah! yeah, i think he's been wanting to meet you. but it's kind of like.. meeting a dangerous parent. except, in all honesty, i'd probably be more afraid of meeting you." 

the other girl's brows furrowed. "what's that supposed to mean?"

"just that you're.. your standards are quite high, ri. and you're very likely to kill a man, so there's also that." 

this made skye grin. "i mean i guess i can't disagree with you. however, you need to keep in mind that your dad is also an entire league of his own when it comes to gaining his approval." she looked to see katia's confused glance. "he's iceman kazansky. i'd shit my pants if i didn't think he'd like me."

"then it's a good thing you're practically family." the other girl said, and it was true. skye loved her father, she loved maverick fiercely. but her broken family she'd grown up with (herself, her father, katia, and rooster) was a complete contrast to katia's more stable mother, father, and two siblings. they accepted skye as almost another child, and would often take care of her when maverick would be too busy with his work. 

skye had been there for katia when ice had first gotten diagnosed with throat cancer, and it had been hard on the whole family. they'd both been in school at the time, and were only relieved to hear that he could still speak, and then even more relieved when it was able to be treated. katia would never admit it, but she almost constantly worried about the cancer coming back. 

"are you two coming to the hard deck tonight?" phoenix asked, looking between katia and skye.

"yeah, it's a double date." katia smirked, this time unable to dodge the sock that skye threw at her face.

phoenix copied her smirk. "between who and who?" 

"it's not a double date." skye said, pulling a white t-shirt over her head.

katia looked over at her. "rooster said it was." she laughed.

"rooster?" phoenix's brow raised. "and riot?" a smile spread on her lips. "is that what's been going on between you two?"

skye shook her head. "no, we're not.. oh, shut up." she pushed katia away as she started making kissy faces at her. "katia's the only one that's actually going on a date. her and fang."

"my wso?" phoenix looked between them, and skye couldn't quite interpret the look on her face. "that fang?"

she nodded. "yeah. is anything official yet, kat?"

katia shook her head. "no. tonight might be the night, though, this is our first time hanging out off base." 

skye laughed her way. "use protection, don't do it in our house."

it was katia's turn to roll her eyes, shaking her head in annoyance. "shut up. i meant he might ask me out officially tonight." 

phoenix smiled. "that's great! i didn't know you two were a thing, that's great."

skye glanced from katia's face to phoenix's, trying to interpret what exactly was going through both of their minds. she then cleared her throat to ease some of the tension that had begun to form. "so we'll see you later, then, phe." she smiled.

she and katia then left, and went to their apartment to get ready for the "double date". skye wrestled with multiple different outfit ideas before settling on a black cami with jean shorts and her beaten up black converse.

"what are you wearing?" katia asked when she saw her. "you're not wearing that on a date."

"that's why," skye replied, taking in katia's cute dress and jacket, "it's not a date."

she rolled her eyes, a habit she insisted she'd gotten from skye. "i don't want to wear a dress if you're going to be wearing shorts, dude." 

"your dress is cute!" skye defended.

"but i'll feel overdressed."

"no, you're actually going on a date." she argued. "it's fine for you to wear a dress. besides," she shrugged, "we all know he's gonna be wearing a hawaiian shirt and jeans anyway."

katia laughed. "right, okay. fine." the two then grabbed their helmets and set off on their motorcycles. when they arrived at the hard deck, it seemed to already be filled with aviators and other members of the navy, all standing around and talking about the latest news.

skye followed katia through the doors and was surprised to see rooster, who had, for once, arrived on time. she was even more surprised to see him wearing a button up shirtsleeve, which just so happened to be in the shade of blue that made him look good. 

"no hawaiian shirt." she leaned in to say to katia, who laughed.

"i told you you should've worn a dress." she smiled. "see, he's attempting to put in effort." 

she rolled her eyes. "it still isn't a date, kat."

"whatever you say." she said, smiling her way before moving to join jake by the darts. "you said you wanted to meet him." she reminded skye, who looked like she was about to move back to the exit. "i'm being social for once, come on."

skye groaned, but didn't protest as she followed katia to where he stood. "havoc!" he smiled, looking over at skye. "and riot, to what do i owe the pleasure?"

skye held a hand out for him to shake. "wanted to properly meet you, you know, if you and my partner in crime are gonna be going out." she smiled. 

jake nodded. "yeah, i've been wanting to meet you officially, too."

"yeah? well you've been doing a good job up there with phoenix, jake."

"thank you." his face didn't really change, and skye almost wanted to ask if he was constipated. 

"yeah. well, i'll skip through all the best friend speech. break her heart i'll rip yours out, all that good stuff." she then said, laughing as katia shook her head. "you two have fun, then, i'm gonna go get a drink."

katia smiled. "okay, see you later, ri."

skye waved before turning her back to the group, weaving through the steadily growing crowd of people and to the bar. when she sat down, she ordered her drink and waited for it, basically twiddling her thumbs. she hadn't worn her rings in a while, since it felt unprofessional to fly with them. she fiddled with them then, being reminded of the high school days in which she was never seen without them. 

she was pulled from her thoughts as someone sat down, and she found herself hoping it was rooster, who she'd managed to lose sight of. skye didn't pretend to hide her disappointment as she noticed it was hangman. 

"what do you want?" she asked, gratefully accepting her drink from the bartender. 

he smirked. "can't pretend to be excited to see me?" he asked, ordering himself a drink. 

skye shrugged as she took a sip of hers. "if i wanted to be an actress, i wouldn't have enlisted in the navy." 

he pretended to wince. "insults seem to come to you easy. if i didn't know any better, i'd think you disliked me, riot." he joked, knowing full well of her distaste for him. 

she smiled. "yeah? well maybe you should retake your iq test. there are requirements to be a naval aviator, you know."

hangman laughed at this. he then looked down at his beer, swishing the liquid around in the bottle for a moment in thought. "so what's going on between you and bradshaw? the 'ol rooster." 

skye looked up from her drink, nearly choking on it. "me and rooster? nothing's going on." 

he raised a brow. "really? you two seem awfully close."

"i don't know what you're talking about." she replied, hoping he'd go away.

"i just mean.. you know. wouldn't want to interfere on anything." he smiled, taking a swig from the bottle in his hand. 

skye's brows furrowed. "what do you mean?"

he only smiled, shaking his head. "i'm trying to ask you if you wanna hang out sometime, mitchell." he explained. "i can buy you a drink, if you want, what'd you get-"

hangman moved to reach for her drink, but skye practically swatted his hand away. "hangman, i don't know what you don't understand, buddy, but i can assure you that i'm not interested in whatever it is you're trying to offer here." 

she stood up, angrily walking away with her drink when she literally ran into rooster. "shit shit, i'm so sorry, dude." she cursed, relieved to see she hadn't spilled anything on his shirt. the shirt. she then noticed who it was, looking up into the aviators of the bradley bradshaw. "hey."

he smiled. "hey. i've been looking for you since i first saw kat, where have you been?" 

skye rolled her eyes. "i've been getting accosted by hangman."

this made him laugh. "you should've told me, i would've tried to save you."

"no, he was trying to ask me out, i think?" she furrowed her brows. "at this point i really don't know what was happening." 

rooster stiffened. "he asked you out?" he looked over her shoulder to hangman, who was still sitting at the bar with his beer.

"i don't know if that's what he was trying to do, but he did a shitty job of it." skye laughed. "i told him i wasn't interested." she clarified, a smile spreading onto her face. "i also called him buddy." 

bradley cracked a smile. "of course you did." he then looked back to her. "you should've given him a pat on the head for good measure."

skye laughed. "i mean i can always go back over there." 

he shook his head, a fond smile on his face. "i was going to get something to drink, though, if you want a refill of.." 

"pina colada." she said, watching as he almost died of laughter. 

"you got a pina colada?" he chuckled.

skye gave him a look. "what's your issue with pina coladas?" she laughed. 

"nothing! just.. you don't seem like a pina colada person."

she narrowed her eyes in thought. "what exactly.. what exactly grants someone the rank of pina colada person?" 

"not being a naval aviator." he said, but he grabbed her hand and led the way back to the bar. "um.. one angry orchard and a pina colada." he ordered, almost laughing again as he thought about the drink. 

skye slapped his arm. "they're good." she defended. "if you ever have a pina colada, you'll understand the true, majestic beauty of it."

when the bartender handed them their drinks, rooster immediately moved to steal the pina colada, taking a sip of it. his brows raised and he nodded. "i am impressed. you have good taste."

she scoffed. "as if i didn't make you playlists until you were eighteen years old." she smiled. "my taste in drinks is about as good as my taste in music." 

he nodded. "yeah, it's pretty good." he handed the drink back to her, taking a sip of his own beer. they sat there for another few moments before his eyes lit up with an idea and he grabbed her hand.

"roost, we just got our drinks, where are you-" he ignored her protests, moving to unplug the jukebox and sit them both back down at the piano. "is this an annual thing now?" 

he smiled as he looked down at her. "when you make me think of a song, yes it is." 

skye gave him a look. "and what song am i reminding you of now, bradshaw?" 

rooster grinned as he began to play miscellaneous chords before beginning the song. "i was tired of my lady," he began, laughing as skye immediately recognized it, throwing her head back in laughter, "we'd been together too long."

"like a worn out recording of a favorite song." she sang, watching as his fingers moved around on the piano.

"so while she lay there sleeping, i read the paper in bed. and in the personal columns, there was this letter i read." rooster continued.

the two looked at each other before they both started practically shouting the words, laughing as others in the bar joined. "if you like pina coladas and getting caught in the rain. if you're not into yoga, if you have half a brain. if you like making love at midnight in the dunes on the cape, then i'm the love that you've looked for, write to me and escape."