✔ᵉⁿᵍˡⁱˢʰ Starscream [Top Gun Maverick]✔

06

At the end of the training, during the sunset, no one had managed to shoot Pete down. It had been expected that the twelve would fail. So much for 'This guy needs an ego check'.

None of the twelve were bad. Young and inexperienced, hit the mark, because and everyone had to remember this, Mitchell possessed over thirty years of professional experience. And the recruits were just in their early to mid-thirties.

But of all things to say about Seresin, Pete had to say that he was good and you could let him have that, despite the fact of having pushed an ego number that left Phoenix and Bob alone. That kind of validation, was the last thing a hangman needed.

The 'kiss my ass*' that stunned Hangman might have been taken as a sign that Maverick's flying skills had impressed him after all. Nevertheless, no one was spared from his taunts and stupid remarks.

"Are you okay?" asked Kim in a pouty tone when she saw Jake coming towards her after his last training session was over and the two hundred push-ups that went with it, "Is your ego taking the day or does it need some stroking?"

"He's dazzling," Jake said, turning to her after they had both passed each other and slowly walked backwards without taking his eyes off Kim along with the cocky smile the pilot had possessed on his lips since she had met him in the bar yesterday, "It's been three weeks. Enough time to bring Maverick down to earth. I haven't even really hit the ground running. Well, I could use a shower right now, but you should still own a date with Adm. Miss Kasanzky."

"How annoying," Kim smiled back, glancing over her shoulder, "Extremely annoying, then we'll just have to do this another time."

Without waiting for Jake's response or reaction, Kim looked ahead again, but stopped after a few feet and looked after the pilot. How did that work, please? Day in, day out. Day in and day out, thinking they were the best and the biggest. Stupid and derogatory sayings; condescending and arrogant behavior, however, and she had to hand it to him with the best will in the world, not rude. Insulting sayings and comments, yes, but not unkind. It was a form of unfriendliness. Indirectly, not directly. So far, at least, and what were two days of knowing someone.

The fact that Simpson had wanted to talk to Kim this morning had been downright repressed by the short-haired girl. If Mister cocky grin had not brought it up, she would have gone home, enjoyed a long shower and afterwards, laid down in bed, where she wrote a short summary of the twelve fliers for Mitchell.

Too late. What bad luck, Kim thought, the office was locked when she arrived and there was no light to be seen. No wonder at this late hour. But she didn't want to call it luck, because postponed was not canceled.

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*I know it's definitely wrong however I don't know the movie in OV so I don't know what Jake says when Maverick shows up among them.