HARD DECK
a top gun: maverick fanfiction

CHAPTER TEN: MR. BLUE SKY

It was a slow day in the office for Summer, which was odd, especially considering the fact that the pilots were pretty much always in the planes. If it wasn't a bump on the head, nausea, or heat exhaustion, it was a good old-fashioned black eye given to them by one of the other pilots, as a result of spending entirely too much time together.

She was leaving her office -- on time, for just about the first time in her entire career -- and walking past the runway when one of the planes landed. She paused to watch it come down. She'd worked on the base for ... well, long enough, and she'd never seen one of the planes land, not that close. It was impressive, what the pilots could do with them.

Not that she'd ever let any of them hear her say that.

She watched the pilot hop out of the cockpit and pull off his helmet, and she blushed upon seeing that it was Lieutenant Bradshaw. She turned away, ready to head to her car, but it was too late. He'd seen her watching him.

"Dr. Hackett!" He waved his arms wildly as he called out to her.

For a moment, Summer wondered if she could pretend she didn't hear him, but it was too late. Rooster was already jogging towards her. She hated how easy he made it look.

Summer slipped on her sunglasses and crossed her arms over her chest as he jogged up to her.

"Good afternoon, Lieutenant."

"Good afternoon, Doctor." He watched her with an amused grin. "Did you like what I did up there?"

"Unfortunately, I only caught your landing."

"That's a shame. I'm actually quite talented."

"So I've heard."

"Have you ever been in one?" He gestured to the planes behind them.

Summer scoffed. "I'm sorry, when would the need for a medical doctor to fly in a fighter jet ever arise?"

He studied her with a smirk before turning towards the plane, and then looking back at Summer. "You wouldn't be interested in going up with me, would you?"

Summer's mouth fell open. "What?"

"You know, going for a quick flight," he said, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Lieutenant, I can't help but think that that's incredibly against the rules," Summer replied. He'd get booted from TOPGUN, that was for sure. Possibly court-martialed.

"Yes, but I happen to know that Cyclone and the others are in DC for the day for a meeting, and Mav's always in so much trouble himself, he won't say anything," Rooster said, crossing his arms over his chest.

Summer smirked, taking a step closer. "And what about the other pilots?"

Rooster shrugged. "They might say something ... but I'll make it quick, I promise."

"Word for the wise, Lieutenant. Those are not words a girl wants to hear," she teased.

Rooster chuckled and shook his head. "Always keeping me my toes, aren't you? Well, what do you say?"

Part of Summer wanted to immediately say no. Hell no, even. But part of her wanted to say yes. Hell yes. She'd never been in that type of plane before, and the opportunity might never come again. Plus, there was something extremely convincing about the way Lieutenant Bradshaw was smiling at her.

"Okay, Lieutenant. I accept."

He grinned wider than she'd ever seen him smile before. "Great. Let's go. Quick, before anyone sees," he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her along towards the plane.

An uncharacteristic giggle escaped Summer's mouth as she followed along, allowing him to keep ahold of her hand the entire time they ran to the plane. He helped her into the second seat.

"Okay, this is where the RIO sits. Radio Intercept Officer." After a brief pause, and a look up at the sky, Rooster added, "That's what my dad did ... with Mav."

Summer opened her mouth to say something, but she wasn't sure if anything she could come up with would make him feel better. She knew what it was like to lose a father -- but not in the way Rooster did. Her dad was a verbally abusive alcoholic that made sure there was almost never anything stable in Summer's life. Rooster lost his father when he was a toddler, and from what she'd heard about the elder Bradshaw, he was a good man. A great man.

"I'm not going to have to do anything back here, am I?" She asked as Rooster helped her pull a helmet over her head.

He chuckled. His laugh was beginning to sound like music to Summer's ears, and she didn't like that. "No, you can just sit back here and look pretty," he teased, tapping her helmet. "No lives to save up in the sky, Doc."

Summer was about to argue that his logic wasn't entirely correct with that statement, but he was already hopping into the cockpit and slipping on his own helmet.

"Can you hear me?" His voice came through in Summer's helmet, sounding a bit crinkly.

"Loud and clear, Lieutenant," she replied coolly. The thought of him flying this jet was bringing a warm to her face and butterflies to her stomach. Maybe there was something sexy about a pilot.

She could never tell Joey about this.

"Please, Doc, while we're in the sky, you can call me Rooster," he joked.

He started the plane and Summer's stomach dipped nervously, like the way it did just before the big drop on a rollercoaster. She clenched her fists and looked ahead at Rooster, her eyes wide.

"Are you sure this is safe?"

Rooster let out another laugh. "Dr. Hackett, when I came to your office with a bloody nose and you started bandaging it, did I question whether or not you knew what you were doing?"

"No."

"Exactly. Now let me do my job."

The plane took off swiftly, gracefully pulling higher and higher into the sky.

Summer looked down as the base shrunk below them, her mouth falling over.

"Do you like the view, Doc?" Rooster asked.

"Yeah, it's amazing," she replied.

"Okay, now let's get out of here before they notice us."

The base was gone in a flash, and all Summer could see was blue sky and miles of desert.

"Okay, you were right. This is fun," Summer said.

She couldn't see the wide grin on his face, but she guessed it was there.

"I think we can take it up a notch."

Before Summer had time to protest, the plane was upside down, and she was looking up at the ground.

"Jesus Christ!" Summer squealed, earning another laugh from Rooster.

"This is nothing, Doc!" He called out before turning the plane right side up again, and aiming it downward. They zoomed towards a canyon, and Rooster dipped the plane inside before roaring out again.

They zoomed back to base, and Rooster landed the plane just as gracefully as it had taken off.

He took off his helmet and climbed out of the plane, and Summer hated the way her eyes lingered on his body as he lifted himself out of the seat and climbed over to her. He gently lifted her helmet off of her head, his fingers lingering on the side of her face.

"I -- umm..." Summer stuttered for the right words to say, her eyes locked onto Rooster's brown ones. A flush filled her face, and she felt her heart lurch into her throat.

He smiled and unbuckled her harness, then hopped off of the plane, holding out a hand to help her down as well.

"That was fun," Summer said once her feet were on the ground, and words could once again form in her brain.

"I agree." He grinned and elbowed her as they walked away from the runway. "See how much fun the two of us can have together?"

"This has nothing to do with you, Lieutenant. I would have gone for a joy ride with anyone. You're just the first pilot to ask."

"I thought you didn't date Navy boys," he quipped.

She shot him a fake glare. "You know that's not what I meant."

They walked in unison, falling into a comfortable silence as they neared the parking lot.

"You know, I hope that personal day you took yesterday wasn't on account of me acting like a dick," he said.

Summer laughed and shook her head. "Don't flatter yourself, Lieutenant. Contrary to popular belief, doctors do have to occasionally see other doctors for their own health and wellness."

He smiled. "Glad to hear it. Look, I'm sorry if I said something out of line."

"Lieutenant, pretty much everything you say to me is out of line."

He grinned. "Not everything."

She looked up into his brown eyes, recognizing the longing that reflected back to her in them. It was the same feeling she felt in her heart, the tug that pulled her towards Rooster like two opposing magnets. His eyes darted to her lips, and suddenly the world felt too small. Their chests were inches apart, and Summer's heart was beating entirely too fast in her chest. Just as he was leaning down to her she took a step back, turning away with an awkward laugh.

"Thanks for the joyride, Rooster. But my car is right there, so ... I better get home."

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ author's note ✫・゜・。.

will they? won't they? it's the question everyone is asking.

hope you enjoyed this chapter, i had fun writing it. (even though it's a bit far-fetched and there's no way rooster would have been able to take her up in a plane without getting in trouble. but, this is fiction - fanfiction at that - so alas, i have taken some creative liberties.)

also, just a friendly reminder that joey is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns. thank you and please remember to respect that in the comments :)

thanks for reading!

xx,

madi