Atlas: A Top Gun: Maverick Fanfiction

Chapter 25: The Aftermath Part 2

A/N: I arrive early since I was able to finish another chapter in between homework sessions.....I just wrote the makeup scene and uh *puts on shades* y'all are gonna love it! That being said, look forward to that sometime soon! And have some fun with this truly unhinged chapter full of batshit dialogue that was seriously so fun and hilarious to write! As always, let me know what you think!! Love you all!

Truth be told, neither Jake nor Bradley was sure how they had ended up in this position. After the royal shitshow that was the beach incident had gone down—and ended in Kelsey stomping off with half of the pilots of Dagger Squadron—both had wanted a drink.

Separately, they had found their way to a bar. And separately, they had ordered whiskey, only stopping slightly when they realized that they were sitting side by side. "Seriously?" Bradley nearly whined, eyes flashing in annoyance.

But he wasn't the one with a bruised jaw, glare nearly permanently seared onto his face. "You're asking me that?" Jake snapped back.

"Hey! No fighting! Or take it outside!" The bartender commanded, shooting a warning look in their direction.

Although it temporarily calmed the two of them down, their blood was still boiling. The tense silence that was building between the two of them could have been cut with a freakin' machete at this point.

Jake slowly took a sip of his drink, gaze falling down on the ring that resided in the palm of his hand. He knew he had gotten off lucky—if he had caught someone talking like that to her, he would've done much worse than just punched him.

He was quietly reminded of the fact that Kelsey, had in fact, punched Paolo in the nose. She had a freakin' mean right hook and he would've deserved it if she had punched him. Instead, his teammate and fellow pilot had done it. And he was starting to see the resemblance now that the fog was somewhat clearing and chaos wasn't rampant.

It didn't help that Kelsey had a different last name. Which did, in fact, spark several questions. "Dude, why does your sister have a different last name?" Jake poked open an eye, glancing over at Bradshaw.

For a moment, he thought he was going to get hit again. He had no such luck. Instead, Bradshaw opened his mouth for a second, then closed it. "Honestly, I've been asking her that for years. Near as I can tell, she's tired of the tragedy of our last name."

"Oh."

The silence that fell was heavy. And Jake felt like much more of a jerk than he had when he had actually called out Bradshaw's dad for dying with Maverick. He had regretted the words as soon as he had spoken them—something that seemed to be a recurring theme lately.

"That...was a dick move of me," Jake paused, guilt flashing across his features. "I shouldn't have said that shit to you."

He was sure that by bringing it up, Bradshaw would try beating his ass again. Instead, Bradshaw just visibly deflated for a second, gaze falling on the ground. "I was pouting like a bitch. You were right to call me out. Not to say what you did."

A surprising silence fell between them—

Mostly due to the fact that they had just had a civil interaction.

Another uncomfortable beat of silence before Bradshaw cleared his throat. "I shouldn't have hit you so many times."

"Is that an apology?"

"No. You deflowered my sister."

Jake's head snapped around so quickly, he was certain he was going to get whiplash. Bradshaw's cheeks were burning with embarrassment at the thought and Jake just stared at him in disbelief. "Dude, she lived with some asshat in Italy. I'm pretty sure she had sex before she and I got together."