Danger Zone - Top Gun: Maverick

13. Make Me

"How are they all asleep?" Bradley murmurs, looking at the house in front of him.

"Do you wanna stay with me?" Nova offers, running he thumb over his hand.

"Yeah, if you're cool with that." He agrees without a second thought, not wanting to wake anyone up, or spend the night alone.

"I don't really want to be alone tonight." She tells him, and he feels the same way.

"Neither do I." He admits.

The drive to Nova's house was short and close to silent. She was a little nervous bringing Bradley into her home, because she hadn't ever brought a guy over. Not a guy like Bradley Bradshaw, anyway. Neither of them really knew what to expect, or what the other person would expect.

"Alright." She gives his hand a squeeze, pulling into her driveway.

I front of them is a small white house with a light blue door and matching light blue shutters on each window. They both got out of the car and Nova led Bradley to the front door. He glanced around as they passed a small patch of her yard covered in yellow flowers, and made their way up the short steps. It was awfully dark inside when Nova twisted her key in the door and opened it, but she quickly flipped the lights on, not liking the fact that she couldn't see.

Her house was just what Bradley could've imagined. There were plants and picture frames scattered around her kitchen and living room. Everything was blue, white, or made of wood. In his subtle scan around the house, he saw a picture of Nova with Maverick, one of her with Iceman, and another one of her with Penny and Amelia. She had a record player in her living room next to a shelf of vinyls that reached the ceiling. Her couch was a dark blue and had a shit ton of pillows. It looked like a home. Bradley liked that.

He was so used to living in Navy provided houses and apartments that he'd forgotten what it felt like to be in a real home. Sure, he had a house back in Virginia, but it felt empty there. It didn't feel empty at all here, but it didn't feel like too much either. It felt nice, refreshing even.

Now that Bradley was here, Nova noticed the blanket she left draped over her couch, and the half full coffee mug on her kitchen counter. She looked around and noticed the record she left on the turntable, and it's jacket and sleeves messily set down on a table. She noticed her white converse that she lazily kicked off on the floor and the stacks of graph paper on her coffee table.

"Sorry, I know it's pretty messy right now-"

"I love it." Bradley grins at her from across the room.

Nova lightly laughs at his words, not really sure why he's saying them. She worked hard on her home, yes, but she was used to it. She'd been living here for three years, and has constantly been changing little things about the house.

"I decorated it myself." She smiles cheesily, walking over to him.

She looked as if she was walking on air the way she strutted across the dark oak floor and into Bradley's arms.

"You did a good job. It looks like a home, y'know? A real one." He wraps his arms around her torso from behind her, and she grips his arms with her hands.

"Well, it is a real one." She giggles.

"It's nice to see a house that's actually furnished, I mean. My place feels so empty when I'm there." He tells her.

"Give me a call when you move to Fightertown and I can furnish you up." She says.

"Furnish me up?" He laughs.

"Yeah, in another life I am an interior designer, Bradley Bradshaw."

"I believe it. You've got a good vibe going on in here."