You and Me, Kid

○ Chapter 05 ○

"Psst, Fanboy!" Reuben hissed, getting the pilot's attention as he hummed, turning to look at his teammate before noticing what he was getting his attention for. Their captain, Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, had fallen asleep, head laying against his arm which rested on the back of the sofa. The others turned around, hearing Reuben hiss at Mickey and smiled at the sight. Natasha stepped forward, grabbing a blanket on her way over to the captain and gently placed Autumn in his arm, draping the blanket over them both.

"He needs his rest," Jake spoke up from where he leant against the door frame before pushing up and walking further into the room, choosing to sit in the seat next to his sleeping captain. "I don't think he's slept much after our first mission together, when we almost lost both him and Rooster." The others agreed as the brunette shifted slightly, eyelids twitching before he stilled, face relaxed for the first time in a while.

"Any idea what Goose would have done in this situation? Or Iceman?" Bob asked, unsure of what to do. He didn't know whether to move him or to leave him there to sleep. As soon as he finished asking his question, Penny entered, awing at the sight of Pete asleep with Autumn in his lap and his team surrounding him. It was a pretty domestic scene, something that was rather scarce in the captain's life which Penny found quite unfortunate. But maybe that would all change with Autumn being here, and maybe he would actually decide to open up for once in his goddamn life.

"How long has he been asleep?" she murmured, taking Hangman's spot from next to Pete and wrapping an arm around his shoulders, gently guiding him to rest his head against her shoulder, a small smile gracing his lips in his sleep.

"Only about ten, fifteen minutes," Reuben shrugged, glancing at the time before looking back at their captain. His eyes widened as he saw one green eye looking directly at him, though it was slightly glazed over. From what he couldn't quite tell, was it sleep? Or memories? "Hey Mav."

The others also startled, noticing that Pete had his eyes open though didn't seem to be present like the rest of them were. "Is he...?"

"No, he's definitely awake," Penny mumbled, rubbing a hand down her boyfriend's back. "I think it's because of how Rooster died. It's similar to Goose, both over water and both surrounding the ejection."

"How did Goose die?" Natasha asked.

Penny paused, glancing down at Pete who seemed practically frozen, body stiff. "They had got caught in the current of Iceman's engines who was in front of them. It was supposed to be a simple training mission, and they were due to graduate soon after. They spun and couldn't get control of the jet. In the end they had to eject, but the canopy hadn't cleared all the way. Pete made it out clearly, but Goose had hit his head on the canopy, breaking his neck. He died instantly. Pete clung to the guilt for years, even after the board had said it wasn't his fault. There was nothing anyone could say or do to change his mind, and he quit at one point before going back for graduation, joining Iceman and Slider, as well as Merlin his new RIO at the time, at the carrier for their first proper mission as Top Gun graduates. The rest is history, I suppose."

Everyone's eyes widened. They had known that Nick "Goose" Bradshaw had died during a training exercise, but none of them had realised how harsh his death was and how much guilt their captain had faced because of the death of his RIO. Not only that, but he was close to both Nick and Bradley. Hell, Bradley called him 'Uncle Mav' for Christ's sake! I guess it just never occurred to them just how close Bradley and Pete were to each other.

"We should let him sleep," Javy spoke up. Everyone agreed, Penny laying Pete down so that he was comfortable while he slept and readjusted the blanket before leaving the room and heading to her house.

Natasha took Autumn with her for the night so that her captain could get a good night's sleep, something, she had noticed, he hadn't gotten in ages. Pausing in the doorway, the brunette looked back with a small smile as the pilot's eyes closed fully, finally sleeping properly. "Good night, Mav," she murmured before heading to her bunk, setting Autumn in the bed so that she was against the wall, her body being the only thing blocking her from falling off the bed and onto the floor.

Hours later, a groan was heard from the common room as Pete slowly woke up. Looking around through narrowed eyes, he was confused as to where he was before remembering that he had fallen asleep in the common room. Running his hands over his face and sighing, he slowly sat up, strained muscles screaming as he moved. "God, rookie mistake," he groaned, massaging his shoulder as he stood and headed to the door, leaving, and heading to his own bunk to get changed. Once washed and dressed, he headed to the mess hall where his team were, all eating breakfast. Grabbing a dish, he sat with them and ate in silence, body still aching.

"Morning old man," Jake chuckled, the brunette smiling and shaking his head at the cocky pilot. "How'd you sleep?"

"Good enough," he replied, hand going to massage the back of his neck, huffing at the stiffness from it. "But I think I'm starting to show my age a bit." The others laughed at that, a small smile gracing the man's face as Beau came to their table. Glancing at the commander, Pete bit back a groan of annoyance, body tensing as he sat to attention.

"Maverick, your team are heading to the carrier today. They've seen a lot of enemy planes in the area and you lot are the best we've got. Check it out, sort the enemy planes out, and head home. Got it?" Beau ordered.

"Yes, sir," they all responded, saluting the commander. Beau nodded and left, Pete finally slumping in his seat, huffing slightly.

"Like I said last night, I hate higher ups," he chuckled before turning to his team. "Alright, go freshen up and get ready to depart. It'll probably take us a while to get there so be ready for a long flight." Nodding to their captain, they all headed to their bunks to get ready for the long flight after finishing their breakfast. Penny had come about an hour later to pick Autumn up and look after her while they were away at sea.

"Maverick, head to the runway. You're first to take off," came the order from the tower, Pete sending back a 'roger that' in acknowledgment as he drove his jet to the runway, quickly taking off. Eventually the others joined him, all falling into formation with the captain in the front, Bob and Natasha on one side with Mickey and Reuben on his other, Jake bringing up the rear. With a pang, he realised that used to be Bradley's spot in the formation.

"How's everyone doing?" Pete asked over the comns, trying to find anything to distract himself from the threat of memories from Nick and Bradley. It was silent for a moment before Bob replied.

"All good on this side," he replied.

"Same back here," Jake said.

"Clear here," Mickey relayed.

Good, good. Pete thought as he kept his jet steady, though his hand was shaking slightly. If we keep this pace we should be there soon. Looking down at his shaking hand, he tried to steady it only for it to tremor more. "Focus, Maverick," he mumbled through gritted teeth, for a moment forgetting his team were able to hear him. It took two hours in total to get to the carrier and once there they were able to prepare themselves for the next few days of constant flying and action. This was going to be a long week.