Chapter Text
“So,” Yale began, sitting on the couch in his housing unit, where everyone gathered, again except for Rooster, who had dragged Maverick out to his car muttering about spending quality time with an old plane or something, and Fritz, that he was doing his time helping Penny with the inventory.
"We can say that all that was a big failure" completed Harvard, leaving the 8 beers he had in his hands on the table.
“I don't think it was a complete failure,” Yale said.
“We had to take Maverick home because he was still too dizzy for Penny to give him back the keys to the bike,” Phoenix rebutted.
"How does that woman navigate for a Navy pilot to get seasick like that?" asked Bob a little distressed.
"To make MAVERICK dizzy" added Omaha dismayed.
"Well yes," Bob said, "our choice of date may not have been the best, but it doesn't mean all is lost with Penny, we could just lock them in the closet and-"
“Do you want to leave it with the closet? They are not teenagers” Halo silenced him.
“Amelia said it was impossible,” Coyote commented.
"She can be in denial," offered Harvard.
"Who wouldn't want a stepdad like Mavdad?" asked Fanboy earning an amused look from all the pilots. "What? It's true, even if it's just to be related to a Top Gun legend."
"Yeah, a known pain in the ass to the Admirals, they'd kick you out early just so they wouldn't risk dealing with anything he bred," Halo replied with a laugh.
"But I don't think that's why, she said they already had a story" Phoenix denied
"They could revive the spark," Bob replied.
"I don't think so, she was very blunt about it"
"Could it be true? Did they ever try and, after so long, their bond is one of brotherhood?" Halo said thoughtfully.
"Then we need someone else," Coyote resolved.
“If the problem is that they have too much history, then you have to introduce someone new,” said the CMO.
"And where the hell are we going to find a reliable total stranger perfect for Pops Bobert"
"She doesn't have to be a complete stranger," Payback said a few seconds later "Hey Fanboy" he drew attention by kicking the pilot sitting on the ground a little. "Since you want Maverick to be officially yours so badly, didn't you say your family is coming the day after tomorrow?"
"YES, you blabbered a lot about seeing 'your girls,'" Coyote jumped in excitedly.
"And that your aunt plans to transfer to the Base" Phoenix contributed, raising the spirits in the room even more.
"THAT'S IT"
"She's not married right?"
"Your dreams will come true"
"It is already decided"
“I don't know if matching Mav up with a random person is the best option,” Bob said doubtfully.
"Aunt Ash is a lovely woman, thank you very much," Mickey replied.
"Besides we don't have much of a choice, have you ever seen pops interact with any woman his age?? other than Penny??" challenged Hangman.
"Okay, but if we're going to do this we need to plan the date better," Halo resolved.
"She's coming with your mom and sisters right?" confirmed Payback
“Well, the rest of us were going to spend the day playing on the beach, you could invite them” Harvard officiated.
"Put Maverick on display like a piece of meat?" asked Yale “What? You wish you looked like that at that age."
"But it's a good idea, so we can show off his......attributes and make sure we don't accidentally kill our pilot-dad," Halo said with a half-repentant look.
________________________________________
Sunny mid-morning caught them all on the way to the beach, half squashed in the Rooster´s Bronco that “seriously bro, you don't even get into that thing properly” and the silver pickup that apparently belonged to Maverick but no one noticed in the hangar when they went to leave the poor dizzy pilot "a man of his age lives alone in a hangar in the middle of nowhere that can only be reached by putting exact coordinates in the GPS, that's sad" Omaha had commented through his teeth "greater reason to get someone for him” Hangman replied.
The point is that no one can be sure that the older pilot didn't steal what could be, or not, a high-level official vehicle, but they won't ask anything because the allegedly illegally acquired huge vehicle, and the small green vehicle, were the only way to get them all in one trip, along with the balls, the cooler full of beer and all the junk food stock from the little store near the base (give them a chance, they still have no idea what their assignments are going to be, and will take advantage of every opportunity to eat however they want), considering that Fanboy was going to use the service van that they had managed to borrow at the beginning of the training to take his family.
“Are you going to tell me why you insisted that I bring so many beach chairs if no one used them the last time we came?” Maverick asked as he tucked the third chair under the sunshade.
Another existential question was where the hell does a 60-year-old single man get a complete set of beach furniture complete with sunshades?
"Do you remember Mickey said he couldn't come because his family is visiting?" asked Payback.
"We hope you don't mind but we told him he could bring them" Jale completed.
“Yeah, we thought we could show the girls how to have fun,” Hangman smiled.
"Sure, no problem, the more the better" the older man easily replied.
Just when they finished disassembling the van and were starting to remove their clothes, they saw 4 women approaching, two older ones holding hands with two teenagers, maybe 14 and 11 years old, followed by their partner with his hands full of backpacks.
"Hello everyone!" shouted Fanboy leaving the backpacks on a towel "Sorry for the delay, we had to make a stop for everyone to put on appropriate clothes for the occasion"
“You were just in time,” the veteran said giving the ladies a toothy smile. “Pilots all in line for introductions”
"Well, guys, say hi to my mother Ada, my sisters, little devils, Nina and Anna," he said putting her hand on the girls' heads and shaking them "And last but not least, my aunt Ash," she said pointing to the green-eyed woman.
"Family, these are the guys, you know Natasha and Reuben" he pointed to the pilots who smiled "and the others are Bob, Rooster, Halo, Hangman, Fritz, Harvard, Yale, Coyote, and Omaha" he numbered in order without barely breathing. "And this," he said, smiling, "Is the great Captain Pete Mitchell, Maverick."
“The one who kicked your ass all last week?” asked the older girl.
"The same sweetie," said the veteran shaking hands with the girl.
"It's a pleasure" he completed looking at the others while he straightened up. "The big boys here can play a little rough with the ball," he said, speaking to the girls again "They're very competitive, so why don't we all play FRIENDLY" he pointed out, looking at them with intent "with the frisbee, they are so big that I'm sure, beautiful ladies, that you beat them in agility,” he said, nodding seriously, the girls responded trying to imitate his expression but with big treacherous smiles and excited nods.
“Okay,” he said, tossing Rooster the phosphorescent plastic disc out of basically nowhere as he took off for a run with the girls hot on his heels.
“The ladies join us?” he asked, turning to the older women after a couple of meters.
"Oh no, no" Ash replied with a smile matching the Captain's, whom she stared at throughout all the interaction "we'll let the kids play for a while while we enjoy the sun"
“Okay, help yourselves,” he said, pointing to the little oasis he'd arranged, just before glancing at the girls before running off with them, almost immediately followed by Rooster as he tossed the disc with practical ease.
"And now it turns out that he's also excellent with children" Fanboy managed to say after everyone stayed for at least three minutes watching the fluorescent disc pass between the pilots and the girls in an almost coordinated manner with the men using just enough force to perfectly fit the height and speed of the girls. The rest could only nod half gawking as they watched the little pilot lift a laughing Anna to help her reach the disc after Rooster threw it too high.
"Are you going to play or what?" Rooster yelled at them running in front of them managing to shake them enough to make them move.
They played together for a few hours until Maverick gave up and retired to sit in the shade with the women, to which eleven pilots gave each other knowing looks before Payback, Fanboy, Phoenix, Harvard, and Yale broke away from the pack and summoned Mickey's mom to help them with the snacks, conveniently leaving the two adults talking and laughing alone.
About half an hour later, all the pilots and the girls approached the rest station to eat some of the snacks laid out as a picnic on the beach. When Maverick saw Fanboy and Phoenix bringing a batch of chips from the truck he spread his arms wide and laughed, "Boy, you didn't tell me your aunt is THAT Ash!"
All the young people stopped talking to look confused between the two pilots "That Ash?"
"You know each other?" asked the doubtful young man.
"Yes! Well” he said with a smile looking at the woman next to her “Not directly, but I have heard a lot about her”
“And I've sure heard a LOT about little Maverick here,” the woman replied, pushing the embarrassed-looking pilot's shoulder.
"Heard a lot about him," Yale repeated.
"Yes, by Megan" the older pilot agreed, keeping oblivious to the commotion of his pilots.
"The big boss?" Rooster asked. "I wonder what she has to say about you," he said with a shit-eating smile, earning a laugh from the woman.
"The big boss?" asked Bob confused.
"Iceman's assistant, that's an excellent woman," he laughed, taking a big sip of beer.
"Iceman"
"Admiral Kazansky," Rooster clarified.
"My girlfriend" Ash completed "she will be pleased when I tell her that you recognize her power," he said as he stole the bag of chips from the older pilot's lap. "Part of the reason I'm moving here"
"Something to be celebrated" replied the man opening another bag of food without caring about the robbery.
"Girlfriend?" Halo vocalized soundlessly over the older pilot's shoulder in Fanboy´s direction, who was wide-eyed at the slightly menacing glances of eleven pilots directed at his person to which he could only shrug.
The rest of the afternoon was spent merrily hopping from game to game until the day was called to a close when Rooster, Bob, and the girls managed to subdue Hangman and Payback in the sand for a human tower.
"Girlfriend? Dude what the hell” Rouben whispered to Mickey as he met him in the pickup where they kept things while they waited for Maverick and his guests to change. "How the hell didn't you know that?"
"Seems like I haven't been as up to date on family news lately," he replied in a sharp tone.
"Hell yes," Hangman replied, joining them with the sunshade with half the pack of pilots following behind and carrying the rest of the stuff.
“I don't think we're getting anywhere,” Phoenix said.
"That's a bit obvious, but we don't have much to work with," Fanboy defended himself.
"We need more information then, or we'll run out of time," Halo stated nervously.
“What are you all doing conspiring here?” asked Rooster appearing out of nowhere.
"Right on time" Fritz greeted "you know Maverick better, what's his type of girl?"
The mustachioed man blinked in astonishment for a couple of seconds, "I'm sorry, what?"
"Yes, we tried to find her the perfect partner, but we don't know what his type is," the pilot repeated.
"There are so many things wrong with that sentence," said closing his eyes as if he were suffering.
"Come on Roo, give us something" Hangman approached him.
"Look, first of all, I could assure you that Mav is not interested in any women or-"
"Maverick is gay?" interrupted Harvard, a little stunned.
"No, well, more or less, but the point is that-" the pilot began in a slightly hysterical tone.
"No wonder it didn't work," Bob interrupted again.
“Worked?” he asked confused and then slightly horrified "wait a second, you've been trying to set him up, that's why you're acting so weird," he said with wide eyes.
"Yes, look, you can be very helpful, the fact is that we will be assigned soon, no one can stay with him all the time and Mavdad can't take care of himself all the time beyond instant soups" Coyote explained.
"That may be true up to a point but-" the increasingly pale pilot tried again.
"So let's get him someone who can stay with and take care of him while we're gone" the blonde continued, not caring about the interruption.
"I don't think you understand how absurd this is-" he said frustrated.
"Come on Roo, don't you want the best for him?" asked the taller half plaintively.
"Of course I do" he replied almost offended "But look, the last thing da-Mav needs is for YOU to find him a partner, he-"
"That sounds to me like you're jealous, come on Rooster, are you worried about competing for his attention?"
"Of course not!" he lashed out seriously offended "You know what," he said slamming his hands against his thighs hard enough to leave a mark and walked away to look for the older pilot "I did my part trying to tell you, I don't care if you keep being idiots" he yelled almost reaching the changing rooms.
"Well, at least we have more to look for."
"That might explain why he seems to only be around one woman her age."
"Apparently two, also counts the assistant to the Commander of the Pacific Fleet"