Atlas: A Top Gun: Maverick Fanfiction

Chapter 14: I Haven't Seen You In Years & This is How You Act?

A/N: I promise that Bradley WILL go through character development and it'll end up okay....but for the plot, I need him to be going through it and being a jerk. Thoughts?

April 2016:

Meeting up with her brother in Barcelona, Spain while she was supposed to be doing a work trip was not something that had been planned. In fact, she had no idea when she walked into a bar to get some directions that she would come face to face with her older brother.

But there he was—stupid mustache and all, wearing his dumbass Hawiian shirt and attempting to woo some lady in fairly fluent Spanish. And Kelsey just couldn't help herself. "Brad-Brad?!" She blurted.

The panic that was on his face was plain as day at the sudden title and usage of nickname. He spun, eyes landing on his baby sister—standing in a bar in Spain. His favorite one, actually. He came here every Tuesday evening.

He reacted faster than she could give him credit for. Bradley rushed forward, wrapping his baby sister up in a tight hug and she grinned in excitement. "Holy shit! I knew it was you—but—"

"How the hell did you find me, Duckie?"

"Brad, I'm 25 years old. I think we can cool it with Duckie." Kelsey insisted, taking in the sight of her brother.

But he was still taking in the sight of her too—with hair cut to her shoulders and dressed to clearly impress—he had no idea what she was doing here and that was only somewhat terrifying.

"Well I'm older and you still call me Brad-Brad."

"You'll always be Brad-Brad to me."

"Then you'll always be Duckie." Bradley insisted. "Wanna—"

"Get a drink? Sure."

Girl he was flirting with forgotten, Bradley and Kelsey took a seat at the bar. "Okay but actually, how did you find me?" Bradley asked, taking a sip of his Sangria.

"Well I didn't mean to. I'm here to record the Seville April Fair for work." Kelsey admitted, playing around with the umbrella in her drink.

"Oh yeah, your blog spot." Bradley was somewhat surprised that it was still up and running. "How's that going?"

"2.5 million followers and growing."

Bradley let out a low whistle. "Damn, that's impressive."

"And you're stationed here now? I guess I should've remembered that. Uncle Ice did mention that."

"Still sucking up to Ice?"

Kelsey gave her brother a flick on the ear and a look of annoyance. "Listen, I happen to like having parental figures every now and then."

"So you're probably gonna tell Mav you saw me?"

"Probably yeah." Kelsey answered awkwardly.

"It's fine." Bradley said shortly.

"Except you forget that I grew up with you and your tone suggests otherwise." Kelsey bit back her tongue. "Sorry...we shouldn't argue."

"No, mom would kill us."

"Probably. At least she never made us hug it out after beating each other with sticks." Kelsey fondly recalled the summer Uncle Pete made them beat each other with sumo suits to get their anger out—Kelsey had accidentally ruined a date for Brad and he had gone with the silent treatment, until then.

"True," Bradley laughed lowly. "Man, it's...been awhile."

"Yeah, it has." Kelsey murmured, a frown appearing on her face. "Do you like it here?"