FIGHTERTOWN, SAN DIEGO
"ARE YOU NERVOUS AT ALL?" Ryan and Mickey were sitting on the floor of their shared living room. It was the middle of the night and neither of them had been able to sleep between Coyote, Bob, and Phoenix almost dying and their mission being pushed up. The record player in the corner of the room was playing some soft old school song.
Mickey had been the one to ask. Ryan looked up from the fidget cube he had been messing with.
"Nervous about..?" Ryan replied.
"The mission. Training. Everything. Nothing. I don't know," Mickey sighed.
"Are... you nervous?" Ryan frowned.
"I'm shitting bricks, Ry," Mickey scoffed. "I feel sick to my stomach just thinking about any of it. I'm terrified."
Ryan stared at Mickey for a moment before setting the fidget cube down and grabbing his hand. "We're going to be perfectly okay. We're gonna get through training, we're gonna go on this mission, and we're gonna come home, Mick."
"How are you so calm about this?" Mickey asked.
"I don't know," Ryan admit. "I just... I think about the bright side. I'm an optimist."
"I guess they don't call you Jubilee for nothin'," Mickey said.
Ryan laughed and shook his head before getting up. "Dance with me," he said.
"You always want to dance," Mickey said as he took Ryan's hand and pulled himself up off the ground.
"It eases the soul," Ryan grinned. Mickey laughed and rested his head on Ryan's shoulder as the two gently swayed to the music.
"We're gonna be okay," Ryan muttered, "I promise."
Mickey was silent for a few moments before speaking. "Ryan?"
"Hm?"
"Please don't break your promise," Mickey whispered.
🛩️
"CAPTAIN MITCHELL IS NO LONGER YOUR INSTRUCTOR," Cyclone said. The graduates were back in that room, the commercial flight chair occupied by them once again. "And as of today, there are new mission parameters. Time to target is now four minutes."
Ghost frowned a bit.
"You'll be entering the valley level at reduced speed. Not to exceed 420 knots," Cyclone said.
The graduates all looked at each other, baffled, confused, and half thinking this was a complete joke.
"Sir, won't we be giving their planes time to intercept?" Bob asked.
"Well, Lieutenant, you have a fighting chance against enemy aircraft," Cyclone said. "What are the odds of surviving a head-on collision with a mountain? You'll be attacking the target from a higher altitude, level with the north wall. Gonna be a little harder to keep your lase on target, but you will avoid the High-G climb out."
"We'll be sitting ducks for enemy missiles," Fanboy whispered to Jubilee and Payback.
The monitor beeped and the simulation showed that someone had began flying it in one of the F-18 singles.
"What the hell.." Bolt whispered.
"Who the hell is that?" Cyclone asked as everyone looked to the screen.
"Maverick to range control. Entering point Alpha," Maverick's voice came over the radio. "Confirm green range."
"Oh, shit," Joker said.
"Uh, Maverick, range control, uh, green range is confirmed," a dispatcher's voice replied. "I don't see an event scheduled for you, sir."
"Well, I'm going anyway," Maverick replied.
"Nice," Phoenix said quietly.
"Sick," Jubilee grinned.
The graduates all sat up in their seats, leaning forward in anticipation and watching the screen with undivided attention.
"Setting time to target: 2 minutes and 15 seconds." Maverick said.
"Holy fuck," Harvard muttered.
"Oh shiiit," Joker said, a smile spreading across his face.
"2:15, that's impossible," Payback said, shaking his head.
"Final attack point: Maverick's inbound."
Then it was silent as everyone watched the computer generated F-18 that symbolized Maverick's position out in the field. He was making his way through the canyon as the timer went down.
He was going fast.
Forty seconds remained as Maverick approached the valley.
"Popping in three... two... one."
Maverick shot up over the valley edge and into the valley.
Everyone began to stand up as the timer got closer and closer to zero.
"Bombs away."
"Come on... come on... come on..." Bolt whispered, her leg bouncing with anticipation. She could barely contain herself.
The timer hit zero and the target exploded, dead on.
"BULLSEYE!" Coyote exclaimed.
"Holy shit!" Bob gasped.
"FUCK YES!" Bolt cheered.
🛩️
IT FELT LIKE THEY'D ONLY BEEN IN FIGHTERTOWN FOR A FEW DAYS.
When Bradley came home, a solemn look on his face, Lea and Kayla knew that it was time. He was leaving to go on the mission.
"I'll be back home before you know it, I promise," Bradley said.
Lea was on the verge of tears.
"I don't even know where it is I'm going, but I—"
"I don't give a shit where you're going, Mr. Bradshaw," Lea said. "Just come back to me, alright?"
Bradley nodded and kissed Lea, pulling her close. "I always do, Mrs. Bradshaw," he said softly. Lea hugged Bradley tightly, tears rolling down her face.
Kayla joined them, sniffling. "Don't die, old man. I swear, I will stomp on your grave if you do."
"That's awful, Kay," Bradley said, laughing a bit.
"I don't care," Kayla said. "Don't die."
"I won't," Bradley said, kissing the top of Kayla's head. "And force your mom to cook something other than chicken and rice while I'm gone. She's been eating it for the last two weeks."
"I'll try," Kayla laughed as Lea rolled her eyes and wiped her tears.
"I love you both," Bradley said. "So much."
"We love you too," Lea sniffled.
Kayla blinked back her tears and went upstairs to her room, refusing to cry in front of her parents.
Lea kissed Bradley again. And again and again and again. She wanted him to stay. She wished he could. God, she wanted to hold him here forever.
Bradley hugged Lea tightly and held her for a few moments. He knew there was a chance he wouldn't come home, but he knew he had to. He couldn't leave her alone. He couldn't leave Kayla either.
"I'll come back home," Bradley whispered. "I promise you."
🛩️
"MAE," Jake walked into his and Mae's bedroom. She was sitting on their bed, staring at the ground. At the sound of Jake's voice, she looked up.
Jake sat down beside Mae and sighed. "I don't wanna fight anymore."
"We're not fighting, Jake. You did something awful and I need you to understand—"
"I understand," Jake cut in. "I get it, but I don't want to think about that right now."
Mae sighed and rested her head on Jake's shoulder. She missed sleeping next to him every night and play fighting when they got home from training if they weren't too exhausted.
Jake wrapped his arm around Mae and held her tightly. If there was anything that could make him see the error of his ways, it was getting the cold shoulder from the only person he ever truly loved.
"Jake," Mae muttered. He hummed in reply. "If you get chosen to fly this mission, I need you to promise me — promise that you won't be so reckless."
Jake sighed and nodded a bit. "Promise."
"For once, don't live up to your name. Don't leave your team hanging," Mae said.
"Okay," Jake whispered. "I won't."
Mae looked at Jake, inclining her head a bit to look him in the eye. "I love you, Jake Seresin."
"I love you too, Mae," Jake replied before leaning down and kissing his wife. He'd wanted to do it for days, but he couldn't while he was on the outs with her.
Mae felt her eyes water. This could be the last time she was held in her husband's arms. This could be the last time she ever kissed him or heard his voice or looked into those self-absorbed green eyes.
She'd spent the last few days being upset with him and now she felt like she'd used up all her time with him. She just had a sinking feeling that this mission wasn't going to go right.
Jake pulled away from Mae and frowned a bit, seeing the tears welling in her eyes.
"Hey, hey. What's wrong?" He frowned. "Don't cry, Mae. Please."
"I'm— I'm sorry," Mae sniffled, wiping her tears with the palms of her hands. She knew she was upset, but she rarely cried over these things.
Maybe it was just one of those feelings. The overwhelming kind that just made you act differently.
"For what? There's nothing to apologize for," Jake said.
"For being a bitch and making you sleep on the couch and giving you the cold shoulder and—"
"Okay, yes. That hurt, but... don't apologize to me for that," Jake sighed. "You had a right to be upset."
"I feel like I threw away so much of our time and—"
"Wait, Mae. Our time?" Jake cut in. "Baby, we have forever. 'Til death do us part."
"What if this is death?" Mae asked. "What if one of us doesn't come back from this?"
"That's what this is about?" Jake replied. "We're the best damn aviators this navy's ever seen. We're both coming back home."
Mae took a deep breath. "We're both coming back," she whispered.
🛩️
"BABE, BREATHE," Ryan said, grabbing Mickey's hands. They were standing in the kitchen — Mickey trying to find something to occupy himself with. His nerves were getting the better of him.
"I can't," Mickey said. "Did you turn the heat on? Ryan, it's like 90 degrees outside."
"I didn't turn the heat on," Ryan sighed. "You're panicking and you need to calm down."
Mickey closed his eyes for a moment and held his breath before exhaling heavily. "I can't do it."
"Mick, you've gone on plenty of dangerous missions before now—"
"Ryan, they literally told us going into this that we're about to pull off something that no living pilot's ever seen or done," Mickey replied. "What if this is it?"
"It's not," Ryan said, squeezing Mickey's hands. "Tomorrow night, we'll be right here again. You will still be my boyfriend, I'll still be yours, we'll still be alive."
Mickey took a deep breath.
"You got this, Mickey Garcia. You're one of the best damn aviators that TopGun popped out, you're gonna be fine," Ryan said.
"You promised," Mickey replied after a moment.
"I intend to make do on it," Ryan smiled.
Mickey pushed himself onto his tippy toes, just a bit, and kissed Ryan. Their little height difference made it hard for Mickey to reach without a little bit of help.
Ryan kissed Mickey back, holding him close. "I love you, Mick."
"I love you too."
🛩️
"YOU READY?" Natasha asked, sitting beside Brynn at the small kitchen table. Brynn had been staring out the window for the last 10 minutes, trying to collect her thoughts.
She turned to Natasha and sighed. "Yeah, I'm ready."
"You sure?" Natasha asked. "You look lost."
Brynn nodded. "Just thinking," they said. "All this talk about the mission and now it's actually here and I... I'm scared."
"And you have every right to be," Natasha replied, grabbing Brynn's hand. "But we're both gonna be fine."
"What about everyone else?" Brynn sighed. "I can't lose a teammate."
"We'll all be fine, Brynn," Natasha assured. "We were chosen for a reason. We wouldn't be here if Maverick didn't think we had what it took. The mission can be flown, it's achievable. We're gonna do it."
Brynn glanced down at Natasha's left hand, the diamond engagement ring glistening on her ring finger.
"Five months," Natasha said softly. "We'll make it."
Brynn nodded. "Five months," they agreed. Natasha leaned over and pressed her lips to Brynn's. Brynn held Natasha's face in her hands and kissed her back.
"I love you," Brynn whispered, pulling away after a few moments.
"I love you too," Natasha smiled.
🛩️
"WE GOTTA GO—," Jordan muttered, his sentence being cut short by Javy's mouth on his. They were laying on the sofa, Javy's body on top of Jordan's. Getting ready had turned into a make-out session.
"We have 45 minutes— before we— have to— go," Javy replied, speaking where he could. Jordan was the one insisting that they needed to leave, yet he couldn't seem to let Javy get up.
"You said.. said that— 30 min—utes ago," Jordan mumbled. Javy hummed, twisting his fingers through Jordan's hair and kissing him more. "Javy— we g.. We gotta go.."
"Shut up, no we don't," Javy whispered.
Jordan raised his eyebrows as he wrapped an arm around Javy's waist. It felt like they would never stop kissing.
Javy would've stayed there forever if he could. Screw the mission, he didn't want to lose this. This relationship or Jordan. The chances of that happening if they went off on this suicide journey increased drastically.
Jordan wouldn't lie, he was scared. But he knew what he signed up for and he was confident in himself and in his team. He knew that this mission could be flown successfully with no casualties... at least not on his end.
The thought of losing Javy always sent a cold chill running down Jordan's spine. It made his eyes prickle and he hated it every single time, so he tried to think about it as little as possible, but with the mission on the horizon, it had been the only thing on his mind.
Especially after the fiasco during training.
But he knew it had to get done. He knew he had to take the risk, as much as he hated it.
Fifteen minutes later, Jordan and Javy were still on the sofa, laying in silence. Jordan had an arm around Javy and Javy's head was on Jordan's chest.
"We really do have to go now," Jordan said quietly, letting his fingers graze up and down Javy's arm.
"I know," Javy sighed.
"We'll be okay," Jordan muttered. "We'll be back here tomorrow night like nothing ever happened."
Javy sat up and looked at Jordan. "How can you say that so confidently?"
Jordan shrugged. "I'm confident in our abilities. In our team. I know we can do this. We spent the last 4 days flying that simulation course. We can do this."
Javy and Jordan shared a kiss and then another. Jordan kissed Javy's cheek and took a deep breath.
"Javy Machado, you know I love you, right?" Jordan said.
"I know it like I know my own name," Javy replied, smiling a bit. "I love you too, Jordan Briner."
TRIN,
guys i love them so much
they're so special to me
you do not understand the
love i hold for them in my
cold dead heart. you don't.