automatic stop, bradley bradshaw

thirty-four.

phoenix smiled. "skye, it's okay. we can all see how you guys look at each other."

she turned back to look at the other woman, feeling her posture stiffen as the soft smile on her face dropped. "i'm not going to risk a friendship this important to me just because of unrequited feelings, nat."

"you don't know that."

"i don't want to talk about it." she replied, slamming her locker closed and shoving the photos into the pocket of her flight suit. 

skye sat next to katia as maverick provided the analysis on everyone's run. "why are they dead?" he asked after the screen in front of him portrayed phoenix, bob, and coyote's exercise.

"because-" phoenix began.

maverick shook his head, turning to coyote. "no. why are they dead?"

coyote frowned. "i didn't communicate with my team-"

"anything their families will accept at the funeral?" maverick countered.

"no, sir."

he then turned to phoenix. "why did you pull up? you were briefed on the terrain."

"i-"

"don't tell me." maverick said. "tell bob's family." he was soon on to skye, katia, and hangman's run. skye cursed as she watched the screen in front of her show the moment she ran straight into the wall that would've been there had they been in the actual location. "what happened?"

hangman smiled. "i went as fast as i could. sort of like my ass depended on it."

rooster stiffened. "and your wingman's dead." 

"they couldn't keep up." he smirked, looking over to skye and katia.

skye shook her head, biting the inside of her cheek. "you didn't communicate with your team, as usual." she lowered in her seat. "fucking dickhead." she mumbled, though her father's glance over at her betrayed that he'd heard her.

he moved on to rooster, harvard, and yale's practice. rooster had gone slow, but had still been the only person to actually make it to the target. "why are you dead?"

"sir, he's the only person who made it to the target." skye defended.

maverick shook his head. "why are you, why is your team, dead?" 

"i made it to the target." 

"yes, a minute late. and enemy sams took you out on the way out."

rooster nodded. "so it's a dogfight."

maverick raised a brow. "in an f-18? against fifth generation fighters?"

he smirked. "it's not the plane, it's the pilot."

"exactly!" maverick said, and the entire room became eerily silent. 

rooster's face hardened. "there's more than one way to fly this mission."

"you just don't get it, do you?" hangman asked, turning to look at him. "you see, a man either flies this mission like maverick here, or a man doesn't return. no offense intended." he said, turning to look between skye and katia next to him and phoenix behind him. 

bob leaned forward in his seat. "and yet, somehow, you always manage."

"we're going into war, son." hangman continued. "on a level no man has ever seen, not even him." he looked at maverick before turning back to rooster. "that's no time to be thinking about the past."

rooster's head tilted. "what's that supposed to mean?" 

"rooster.." maverick warned.

"i can't be the only that knows that maverick flew with his old man." hangman said. 

maverick shook his head. "that's enough."

"and that maverick was flying with his old man when he-"

"lieutenant!" 

everything after that was an immediate blur. rooster had stood from his seat, and had immediately charged to hangman. skye saw him push hangman in the chest, but she was already a part of the group trying to hold him back. 

"that's enough!" maverick was yelling.

"you son of a bitch!" rooster said, pointing a finger at hangman. 

"bradley!" skye said, putting a hand on his arm. the look of anger on his face became regret for a moment as he looked down at her, but he stiffened again as he looked at hangman. 

"i'm cool, i'm cool." hangman said, shaking off the hands that were on him. "he's not cut out for this mission."

maverick turned to him. "that's enough."

"you know it." hangman continued to rooster, who was still shaking with anger. "you know i'm right." he moved closer, his gaze flickering from rooster to the woman next to him. "don't you, riot?"

she gritted her teeth. "go fuck yourself."

"that's enough!" maverick repeated. "you're all dismissed." 

when skye turned around, rooster had already left. she sighed, jogging after him. "rooster!" she called. "hey, rooster!" skye rolled her eyes. "bradley!" 

he finally turned around. "i'm sorry, i really don't feel like talking right now."

"bullshit." she deadpanned. "you can't put this conversation off forever, bradley. we need to talk about what's going on between you and my dad." 

rooster shook his head. "it doesn't matter."

"it matters to me!" she exclaimed, not expecting her voice to crack the way it did. "you matter to me. this is.. this is fucking killing me, watching this back and forth between you two. i want to try to help-"

"you can't help, skye." he said, shaking his head. "it doesn't work like that."

skye looked up at him. "you said i was your favorite person. you told me you didn't want to lose me again."

"losing you is better than being a burden to you."

"will you fucking cut it out?" skye said, moving closer to him. "i don't care what happened between you two, i just want you to be my best friend again without resenting him." 

he shook his head. "this doesn't have anything to do with you."

she scoffed. "yeah? cause it sure feels like it does, bradley. it feels like you can't even look at me anymore without seeing him, and i want you to be able to trust me again." 

"just stay out of it, please." he begged, and all frustration and anger had slipped out of his voice. he sounded desperate, like he was pleading with her. "please, stay out of it." 

skye could feel her heart shattering. whatever had happened between him and her father was out of her control, she knew that. but it was tearing her apart having to see it affect both of them so much. "can you just try talking to him about it?"

rooster shook his head, looking at his feet. "it's not going to help anything."

"you don't know that." 

"i know he won't feel any differently than he did two years ago, skye."

she reached into her flight suit and pulled out the two pictures, dropping them into his hands. "this matters to me, bradley." she said, watching as his gaze softened looking at the pictures. "you matter to me. this.. this matters to me. and i don't want us to keep fighting about whatever it is that you're keeping from me."

rooster ran his finger along the photograph, a small smile coming to his lips. he then looked back into her eyes, nodding ever so slightly. "i know. i don't want to be keeping things from you. i just.."

"you want it to stay between you and him, i know." she said.

he chuckled, looking back down. "you always read my mind."

"that's why i'm smarter than you, bradshaw." she teased, smirking as his jaw dropped in offense.

"c'mon, take that back."

"what, you want me to lie?"

he laughed. "oh, you're mean!"