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HARD DECK a top gun: maverick fanfiction
CHAPTER FIVE: WHAT'S UP, DOC?
After chatting up Dr. Hackett at the bar, Bradley Bradshaw found himself with a spring in his step the following morning. While the rest of his comrades were nursing hangovers, Bradley walked around like he was sunshine incarnate, which was uncharacteristic as it was, seeing how moody he'd been due to Maverick and Hangman.
"What's up your ass?" Hangman retorted as Bradley entered their classroom, a smile up his face.
"What, I'm not allowed to smile?" Bradley replied. "I'm just imagining the look on your face when you don't get selected for the mission."
Captain Mitchell entered the room, slamming the door behind him. The hungover pilots all groaned in unison, slipping their aviators over their bloodshot eyes.
"Whoa," Maverick chuckled, looking around the room. "I take it you guys had some fun last night. In case you've forgotten, in two-and-a-half weeks, six of you are going to be flying the most important, and possibly last, flight of your lives. So," he took a step forward, slamming his briefcase on the table, creating a loud boom that scared all of the hungover seamen. "I will not tolerate any of you coming in hungover in the morning, got it? A hungover pilot is a distracted pilot, and we cannot afford that."
The other pilots looked around at each other sheepishly, and Rooster found himself smirking proudly. He was almost positive he was the only one in that room, excluding Maverick, that wasn't hungover. He supposed he could thank Dr. Hackett for that, as she was probably the reason he wasn't in as equally as rough shape as his comrades. He'd stopped drinking at some point during the night while talking to her, and Dr. Hackett, being a doctor, had made him drink three full glasses of water before he left the Hard Deck.
"Alright. Now that that's out of the way, I think it's a good day for the flight simulator," Maverick said.
The hungover pilots groaned simultaneously, knowing that the motion of the flight simulator was certain to send them into the nauseous pit of despair. Again, Rooster said a silent thank you to Dr. Hackett.
The pilots worked their way through the flight simulator, each failing miserably for one reason or another. Captain Mitchell -- Pete -- was so convinced that the pilots could do it, but no one else seemed to think it was possible. All evidence seemed to point to most of them not making it back from the mission alive.
Bradley wanted to go on the mission more than anything, but he couldn't help but wonder if Pete Mitchell would prevent him from getting there. Maverick was family -- he'd been Bradley's father's best friend until his death, and he'd remained close to Bradley and his mother, until his mother's passing a few years ago. He was like an uncle to Bradley... an uncle, however, that had prevented him from getting into the Naval Academy, when it had been the only thing the boy had dreamed of since he was just that -- a boy.
