ONCE ROOSTER ESSENTIALLY DECKED HANGMAN, EVERYONE SEEMED to be yelling and screaming. skye and katia immediately stood up, and the brunette weaved through the group of people and to the two men. hangman had a hand on his jaw, which was already beginning to redden. he seemed shocked, looking between his hand and rooster, who seemed so nonchalant about it.

the look on his face wasn't one that skye recognized in all her years of knowing him. she'd seen him mad before, he got mad easily when he was younger. but he'd been a boy. this was a man. a man who was so pissed off that it almost made her piss herself. 

she might've been intimidated by him if she hadn't been so pissed off at him, maybe even equally as pissed as he was. "rooster!" she said, moving over to him. he wasn't focused on her, though, and seemed to be gearing up to have another go at hangman. "rooster!" her voice raised, and she rolled her eyes as she put a firm hand on his chest to stop him. "bradley." 

this got his attention, and he looked down at her. skye saw his gaze soften for a moment, and despite hearing his previous conversation with hangman, she wondered if he had even known until that moment that she'd survived the crash. 

"come outside." she said, her voice firm and giving no sign of argument. it was an order. 

to everyone around them, it probably looked like skye was an annoyed mom doing everything but dragging rooster by the ear out the door. she didn't want to look at him, not wanting to risk him having pulled out his puppy dog eyes. not that she'd see them, since he was still wearing his aviators.

"what the fuck was that?" skye demanded as soon as they were outside, crossing her arms over her chest.

rooster put his hands in his hair, throwing his head back. "he pissed me off." he said simply.

"so you fucking decked him?" 

"yep." 

skye scoffed. "who do you think you are? walking in here.." she ran her tongue along her teeth. "everyone came to check on katia and i, bradley. everyone but you. the one person i wanted to see didn't even seem to care if i was alive or dead. even fucking.. yale and harvard, and all the other people that i haven't even spoken a word to. they all came to check on us. and you couldn't be bothered to."

"has it ever occurred to you," rooster said, turning to look at her, "that you're one of my favorite people? that you're.. fuck!" he cursed, running a hand through his hair again. "that you're my favorite person and i couldn't even begin to think of what i'd do if you hadn't come back from that alive?"

she wanted to rewind and pause, to settle on him calling her his favorite person. instead, skye shook her head. "so you just left? without a word to anyone?"

"i didn't know what to do, skye!" he looked away from her. "so, yeah, i left. because i couldn't stand to hear if something had happened." 

"no, let's go back to you fucking clocking a man." she said, holding up a hand. "what are you, a child? you're so immature that you have to settle everything with a fucking fight? you get here and i think 'oh, he's finally going to say something to me', but no. no, you go and you fucking punch hangman for no fucking reason."

rooster then raised his brows. "no fucking reason? you know he could've fucking killed you, right?" he asked, looking into her eyes again. "i punched him because he deserves it. he could've fucking killed you and my sister and i-"

"me and your sister?" she said, crossing her arms again. she then shook her head. "no, no, you don't have a right to barge in here and act like you did something good by punching him. you're so fucking dramatic, bradley." 

he nodded. "i'm fucking dramatic?" he asked. "which one of us is making a big deal out of this?"

skye's jaw dropped for a moment and she shook her head again, beyond pissed. "i'm making a big deal out of this because you punched one of our teammates." 

"you could've died, skye."

"and you wouldn't have known, would you?" she countered. "because you were long gone by the time anyone could've told you that i was alive. what, did you think you were just gonna sit at home and twiddle your thumbs waiting for someone to text you about it?" 

rooster turned back away from her. "i didn't leave because i didn't care." 

"well it sure does feel that way." she replied, her voice lowering. 

"i left because that's exactly how my dad died." he said, and the silence was then deafening as he took his sunglasses off. "maverick flew through iceman's jet wash and my dad hit his head on the canopy when he was ejecting." he said. "and when i heard you'd gone through jet wash, i.." he finally turned back to look at her. "i didn't know what to do. i'd never thought about the possibility of losing you like that before. and i didn't know what i was supposed to do or say, and i couldn't just sit there and wait for them to say you were gone."

skye didn't know what to say. she moved closer to him instead, looking up into his eyes. "bradley, i.." she looked at her feet. "i'm sorry i yelled at you. i guess i just.. when i was watching the plane land in the side of a mountain, the only thing i could think about was you. i was worried about katia, and then i thought about goose, and then i just.. all i could think about was you. and all i wanted when i got onto base was to see your face, and when i got there you were gone." 

he frowned, moving a piece of stray hair behind her ear. "i'm sorry i wasn't there. and i'm sorry that when i got here i was too focused on my own anger to make sure you were okay." 

she looked back up at him, scanning his eyes as if she'd never even looked into them before. "i understand why you left." she told him, watching as he smiled. "i'm glad you're here now." 

rooster opened his arms, pulling her into them. skye wrapped her arms around his waist, moving as close as she possibly could be to him. he felt like home immediately.

"i'm sorry i'm dramatic." he mumbled into her hair. "i just haven't ever cared about someone the way i care about you."

skye smiled at this. they were in silence for a moment before she smiled again against his chest. "for the record, you're my favorite person, too." she said against his chest. "other than katia."

he laughed. "she'd probably have my head if it wasn't both of us." 

"probably." she agreed, looking up at the adoring look in his eyes. holy shit, he had gotten hot. "i missed you so much." she admitted, going back to hugging him. 

he smiled. "i've always been right here. i just haven't been so good at showing it." 

skye nodded. "no, you weren't." 

rooster rolled his eyes, but almost hugged her tighter. "i missed you, too. so much."

"good." she joked, feeling his chest rumble with laughter. "i kept tabs on you too, by the way. in the naval academy." 

he raised a brow. "really?"

"yeah. don't let it get to your head." she smirked. "i used to watch your squadron practice. i thought you always did a really good job." 

this made him smile. "you were watching me?"

"you already said you were watching me, if you can be a stalker why can't i?" she defended, relishing in the sight of his smile. 

"i'm letting it get to my head." he said, rubbing her back with his hands.

skye laughed. "of course you are. i guess part of why i was upset is because i was scared you were going to start ignoring me again, like you did back then."

he frowned. "i am sorry about that. i feel so.. stupid. for avoiding you that whole time, i.." he shook his head. "i made us lose a lot of the time we could've spent being close, and i'm sorry about that." he looked down at her. "but now that we're close again, and mark my words, riot; you're not getting rid of me." 

she smirked. "is that so?"

"yeah. you are not going to get me to leave you no matter how hard you try." 

skye nodded. "you've always been quite stubborn, haven't you?"

he laughed. "oh, the worst." he squeezed her body with his arms, making her laugh. 

"don't worry, i don't think i want to be rid of you just yet." 

rooster laughed at this and then looked back at the bar behind them for a moment before looking down at her. "do you want to leave? go somewhere different to hang out? i kind of would rather spend time with you than with anyone in there." 

skye looked over his shoulder to where katia and jake were standing, and she felt herself beginning to smile as she saw katia laugh, her face close to his. she then focused her attention back to rooster, who now stood in front of her with a soft smile. "yeah, yeah i'd love to go somewhere. what do you have in mind?"

he shrugged. "i'm good with anywhere. we can just go on another drive and listen to your tunes." 

she laughed. "yes, i would love to listen to my tunes with you. do you want to just come to katia and i's place and we can make food?"

"oh yes, i'm an excellent cook." he replied, holding his sunglasses in his hand. "should we just.. put your motorcycle in the bed of the truck?" he looked at the smaller vehicle, which was still parked by katia's. 

"um.. yeah that's probably the best option." she agreed, helping him put the motorcycle in the truck bed before joining him in the car. "i did start working on a playlist for you, by the way." she told him as she got onto her phone.

bradley smiled at this, looking over at her. "yeah?"

"you can't listen to it yet, though, it isn't complete."

he laughed. "how long does it take to adequately complete a playlist?" 

skye shook her head. "it's an art that must be mastered, not forced." she told him, shuffling a playlist and laughing as the first song that came on was 500 miles by the proclaimers. 

rooster chuckled. "now this is art." he said, turning the volume up. "when i wake up," he sang, "well i know i'm gonna be i'm gonna be the man who punches hangman for you." he sang, changing the words to make it his own.

the woman next to him laughed, throwing her head back. "wow, okay." 

"when i get drunk, yeah i know i'm gonna be i'm gonna be the man who gets drunk next to you." he continued the song as normal.

skye nodded. "you're gonna be the man who i take home on my motorcycle." 

he laughed but continued singing the song, still smiling as they pulled into the lot of her apartment. "da da da da." rooster was still singing as they walked inside. "da da da da. dun diddle un diddle un diddle uh da da." 

the woman shook her head fondly at the sound of his singing as she turned on the lights in the apartment. she was beginning to love everything about him, and something about that terrified her. she'd just gotten him back, and she was still so terrified of losing him. and no matter what katia said, she feared that telling him anything would weird him out. and so, skye simply turned around with a smile, watching as he shrugged off his jacket. 

"so, what fine cuisine will we be cooking tonight?" he asked, looking in the cabinets that skye often had to get onto her tip toes to see. "you have pasta." he commented, holding out a green box of penne noodles.

skye laughed as she moved next to him. "yes, i do have pasta." she looked up at him, noticing how his eyes remained on the box. "would you like pasta?"

he nodded, a grin spreading onto his face. skye grabbed a pot and filled it with water. rooster wanted to be in charge of putting the pot on the stove, insisting that it made him seem more helpful. 

watching him take a bag of frozen chicken and dump it out on a frying pan was one thing, but watching the six foot man use a wooden spoon to turn the chicken while simultaneously breaking into dance was the funniest thing skye had ever seen. "come on, look at my dance moves, honey." he said, and she tried not to melt at the nickname. "left, and right, and spin." he commentated his own moves.

he'd been standing by the chicken for a couple minutes before it started to smell burnt, and skye moved over to turn off the stove just as it started to produce smoke. "bradley, are you trying to burn my house down?" she asked, coughing as she waved the smoke away and opened a window.

the man in question shrugged his shoulders sheepishly. "i kind of lied. i am not a star chef." 

she looked at him over her shoulder. "you don't say."

they ended up successfully making pasta, though, and skye covered it in alfredo and parmesan cheese before handing it to him. he put a napkin in his shirt ("like a gentleman", he told her) and then ate the whole thing in probably less than sixty seconds. 

both of them ended up on the sofa, and skye had her head on the back of it as she listened to him talk about his experiences flying, and about how much he missed his mom, or about how excited he was to graduate top gun and make his father proud. she determined then and there that she could listen to him talk for eternity. 

soon it had gotten late, and katia was on her way back home, so rooster decided he should probably head out. skye stood in the doorway, looking up at him as he did everything but tell her goodnight. he was going on and on about something random when she just smiled. "goodnight, bradley."

he seemed pulled from a trance then, looking up into her eyes with a confused puppy look. "oh, sorry, i've been rambling."

she shook her head. "you can ramble to me anytime, roost. but it's getting late, unfortunately, and you and i have to be at work bright and early." 

rooster smiled. "yeah, yeah, i know. i just don't really want to wait until tomorrow to see you." 

skye looked away then, feeling the blush forming on her cheeks. "well that's just too bad, isn't it, bradshaw?" she replied after she'd regained herself. 

he shook his head fondly, moving to wrap an arm around her. "thank you for dinner." he said before pressing a kiss to the top of her head, right in the middle of her hair. 

skye almost felt weak in the knees, but she nodded. "yeah. thank you for coming over."

"anytime." he said, pulling away from the hug. "and i'll punch hangman on your behalf anytime, too." 

she rolled her eyes. "that was a sweet moment, why ruin it?" 

bradley then walked down the steps backwards, allowing himself the most time possible to look at her smile. "sorry, ms. mitchell." 

skye shook her head. "you're too much, mr. bradshaw." 

he grinned, putting his hands into his pockets. "i'll see you tomorrow." he said.

"tomorrow." she agreed, waving to him and waiting to walk back inside until he'd pulled out of the driveway, a lopsided smile still on his face. 

when skye walked back inside, she couldn't stop smiling to herself. she felt like a schoolgirl, like a little girl with a crush. she was a grown woman, she thought, she shouldn't be obsessing over his smile or his laugh like she was. she then inwardly groaned. she had a crush.

she always thought that you were supposed to stop having crushes once you got out of high school, or at least.. that if you liked someone it wouldn't feel exactly the same. it did. it felt like that moment when you're sitting on your bed waiting for the person you have your eye on to text you back, and then practically leaping when they finally do. 

and skye didn't necessarily have a fear of relationships, but she was afraid of what a relationship with rooster would be like. on the pros side, she liked him. they were friends, and that was always a good basis for starting relationships. at least, that's what she'd been told. but the con was exactly the same. they were friends. and skye didn't think she was ready to risk jeopardizing that yet.

she was wrestling with these thoughts as she walked over to her couch. she was about to sit down and wait for katia when she noticed it sitting there. she almost laughed to herself because he'd forgotten it, and she just smiled at it instead, looking at the way it just sat on the sofa.

rooster's goddamn jacket.