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The first time Bradley pulled you to the piano with him, you were caught completely off guard. It wasn’t that you’d never been there when he’d pulled the plug for the jukebox and played the piano for everyone, but he hadn’t ever tugged you with him.
You resisted at first, shy and hesitant to be so near the center of attention. Bradley would have let you go immediately if you expressed your discomfort, but something about the wild glow of him made you want, however hesitantly, to go along. At least, you did until you were both sitting on the piano bench. Then the reality of everyone starting to turn toward you set in as Bradley started playing around on the keys.
He must’ve felt you tense up beside him because he leaned into you, one hand coming off the keys to sit lightly on your knee. “You okay? You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to.”
“No, I’m okay. I want to stay, I’m just… just a bit nervous.” You tilted your head to look him in the eye, wanting to make sure he knew you meant it. Bradley’s eyes softened more than you’d ever seen when you said that. He pressed a quick kiss to the side of your head, returning his hand to the piano.
“You tell me if it gets to be too much, alright?”
“Yeah, thank you,” you grinned, leaning your head against his shoulder.
You may have only known him for a year and been on a scant handful of dates, but you were starting to see deeper into how wonderful it was to have Bradley Bradshaw in your orbit. You didn’t want to get ahead of yourself, but you hoped he would stick around for a while.
He started in on “Great Balls of Fire,” a favorite in his repertoire. You could hear how much he enjoyed playing like this, which was enough to make you smile on its own. His warmth at your side kept you steady and secure.
You could feel the weight of people’s gazes, but you were able to ignore it in favor of watching Bradley have fun. He rewarded you with a wink at the line, “kiss me baby,” and a quick peck on the cheek. The way his hazel eyes sparkled when he looked over at you made your heart beat a little harder in your chest.
“Thank you,” he murmured to you after the number.
“It was fun,” you replied as he started to steer the two of you out of the bar. “Might have to do it again sometime.”
“Is that so, little lady?” Bradley’s eyebrow lifted teasingly. You flushed at his tone, looking away in the hopes that he wouldn’t notice the heat rising in your face.
“I guess you’ll have to find out, big guy,” you said when you mustered the courage to flirt back. You risked a glance up at him to find him gazing adoringly at you.
“I look forward to it.”
“Me too.”
The second time you were pulled to the center of attention, it was unintentional on both your parts. It was Bradley’s day off, and he had brought you to the beach.
You spent the morning trying not to stare too much while you splashed water at each other. In your defense, he was also admiring you in your swimsuit. Neither of you minded.
When he caught you staring, he winked and flexed a little extra just to make you laugh. You got bashful when you caught him, flicking water in his direction. He grinned, surging toward you in the waist-deep water to pick you up.
“What are you doing?” you giggled, though you had a suspicion it involved you and submersion.
He just laughed, walking deeper into the ocean. You grabbed around his back, hoping you could either prevent the inevitable or bring him down with you. As predicted, he lifted then tossed you out a little further. Despite your efforts, your arm slipped, so you couldn’t save yourself.
You had managed to get a good breath of air, so instead of coming up spluttering right away, you dove a little deeper underwater, grabbed his ankle and pulled. He went under too–you suspected you had caught him off guard. From under the water, you dodged his grasp and came up laughing. Bradley wasn’t long behind you, his wet curls plastered to his head as he surfaced.
“Not bad, little lady,” he congratulated you with a blinding smile. “I didn’t see that one coming.”
“With reflexes like that, I’m shocked they let you fly planes,” you teased.
“Oh, it’s like that, hmm?” Bradley advanced on you, a dangerous, playful spark in his eyes.
You knew that look–a look that had led to you being pinned against the side of his car on a particularly notable occasion. Backing away apprehensively, you were soon forced to swim rather than walk. He kept coming, making your stomach flutter as he approached deliberately.
He finally made a move and you couldn’t push back fast enough to avoided his grasp. He caught you in his arms, so as a prevention against getting dunked again, you wrapped your legs around his waist. You had a moment’s warning to take a breath before he dunked both of you underwater.
Bradley rolled you both over in the water so he could blow a cloud of bubbles in your face. You surfaced already laughing, pressing your face into his neck as he started to walk the two of you back toward the shore. He was laughing too as he pressed kisses into your wet hair. You pulled back just for a moment, your gaze dropping to his lips.
“Can I–” you started to ask, though he interrupted before you could finish the question.
“Please.” The word was more of a sigh than a spoken word.
You didn’t wait, surging forward to catch his lips in a kiss. He tasted of salt from the sea and sunshine and you couldn’t think of anything better. Bradley’s arm was across your back, his hand resting between your shoulder blades to press you impossibly close. It was like you were drowning and he was the air you needed.
You grinned against his lips as his other hand moved from your back to hold your thigh. The world melted away, and all you could feel were his fingers pressed into your flesh, his lips on yours, the heat of his sun-kissed skin, and the waves buffeting you about.
When you heard the wolf-whistles and cheers, you pulled back, suddenly aware of the people watching you. He pressed his forehead to yours when he saw your wide-eyed look.
“Just keep your eyes on me, sweets.” Bradley assured you. “It’s just the two of us.”
“They’re all staring, Roose.” You hid your face in his neck as you felt your skin flushing.
“They’re just wondering how a guy like me scored someone as beautiful as you, little lady.”
That made you laugh, “You’re a sun-tanned god and you think they’re staring at me?”
He laughed too, and you relaxed at the rumbling noise in his chest.
“Have they gone back to whatever they were doing?” you asked at last, still not picking your head up.
“You’re adorable when you get shy like this, y’know,” he murmured in your ear. “But yeah, they’ve stopped looking.”
“I love you, Bradley” you hummed against his skin.
He paused then, as he processed what you said, and you froze. You hadn’t intended to say that quite so soon, but here you were, watching the gears turn in his head and hoping you hadn’t just scared him off.
When he hadn’t responded for long enough that you worried he was going into shock, you spoke up again. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to put that on you. You don’t have to say any–”
“You mean it?” he interrupted gently, a soft smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
“Yeah, yeah, I do. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
The third time, you had some warning that you were going to be near the center of things, and you were nervous.
Bradley had been called back to Top Gun for a top-secret mission, and had asked you to come to North Island with him. You agreed, of course, but realized about an hour ago that it meant meeting a whole crowd of loud naval aviators. There was only another half hour before you got to the Hard Deck where everyone was meeting, and you were trying to keep your nerves steady.
“What if they don’t like me?” you finally voiced the thought that had been bouncing around your head.
“Of course they will,” he reassured you immediately, reaching across the console for your hand with his free one. He glanced at you only briefly, keeping his eyes on the road as he drove, but he held your hand in a fierce grip. “They’re going to love you, I promise.”
“But what if I freeze up? You stuck around long enough to get to know me, but–”
“I’ll be right there the whole time. And if it gets to be too much, you tell me and we’ll get out of there, okay?”
You took a long, slow breath, gripping his hand in both of yours. “Okay. Okay, it’ll be fine.”
“There’s my girl,” he praised, lifting your hand to his lips. He didn’t release your hand for the rest of the drive.
Your nerves struck again when he pulled up to the bar, the neon lights making you realize that you had to go in there an socialize with a bunch of new people. Bradley came around to your side of the car, opening the door. He leaned against the side of the car with a sympathetic smile.
“You sure you want to do this?” Your sweet man was giving you another out.
You leaned forward, resting your head against his torso. His arm settled across your shoulders, letting you relax into him. You were enveloped the scent of him, breathing deeply. At last, you nodded and let him help you out of the car.
“They’re gonna love you, sweetheart,” he repeated his promise from the car ride, pressing a kiss to the side of your head as the two of you walked into the Hard Deck.
He was right, of course. Despite all of their bantering at each other, they welcomed you easily. You made fast friends with Phoenix, despite her initial jab at Rooster. Hangman was less friendly, but with Bradley’s arm around your shoulders and Phoenix at your side, you felt bold enough to fire off some decent comebacks.
“Don’t let him get to you, big guy, he’s just jealous,” you murmured to Bradley when Hangman moved away.
“Of course he is,” Phoenix chimed in, leaning around you to look at Bradley. “You got yourself a keeper here, Rooster. Bagman wishes he could get someone like her.”
“You are pretty great, little lady,” Bradley said, only to you. “I’m thinking I might move to the piano if you want to come with me.”
“Sounds fun.”
Even if the only reward you got for saying yes was that bright, beaming smile, it would have been worth it. The disappointed groans when he unplugged the jukebox weren’t even enough to distract you from the way he lit up the room as he tugged you over to the piano bench. Unlike the first time you had joined him at the piano, he sat you in his lap rather than beside him.
You were realizing he must’ve done this regularly when he was stationed closer, based on the crowd starting to gather around you after the cheers of “overboard” died down, replaced with cheers of your boyfriend’s callsign.
He started on his signature song, one he’d told you was his dad’s favorite. You let him have the first verse to himself, joining in at “Goodness gracious, great balls of fire!”
Bradley grinned at you, and you felt like you were the only one in the room. Certainly to each other, you were the only ones that mattered. You tilted your head against him as you sang along.
When you reached “kiss me, baby,” you twisted to kiss the corner of his mouth, to the cheers of the other Navy pilots. You both kept singing gleefully, though he ducked his head to kiss your shoulder briefly.
You may not have been sure what the next weeks would hold, but you did know that with Bradley Bradshaw by your side, you could do anything.
The fourth time, you were unexpectedly thrust into the spotlight by catching a foam football. You had been sitting in the sand, reading a paper for work, when it landed in your lap. Looking up, you saw several overeager aviators charging toward you.
What were you supposed to do? You did what any sensible person would do and scrambled to your feet, weaving around them to where Bradley was beckoning you as he ran toward you.
“Over here!”
Your evasion got the aviators to trip over each other, allowing you to escape. Bradley came up alongside you, encouraging you in the right direction while Phoenix tackled Fanboy to let you keep going. You made it to their unofficial goal to score, and were swept up immediately into a triumphant group hug.
“What was that?” you laughed the question to Bradley, who was packed close to you in the group.
“Dogfight football.”
“I hope you know how little that clears it up.”
You were pulled into more of the game after that, a perfunctory explanation of the rules doing little to clear up your confusion. Fortunately, you were out of the spotlight quickly. You didn’t score again, but you did get knocked down running interference for Bob’s game-winning touchdown. Hangman offered a hand to pull you to your feet, patting you on the shoulder with a kinder grin than you had seen from him before.
You grinned back, happy that they weren’t all antagonizing each other anymore. You had heard about the day he struck too low, and you weren’t about to give him a pass for it. However, you were also aware of the level of danger they woulld be facing, if only because of Bradley’s refusal to tell you anything. They would need to have each other’s backs in the air.
The fifth time you were pulled into the spotlight by Bradley Bradshaw, you didn’t even care. You got his call when the ship was almost back to port and all you could feel was relief. You couldn’t meet him there due to your work, but you did manage to intercept him just as he arrived at the Hard Deck to celebrate with all of them.
Bradley caught you in his arms when you launched yourself at him, burying his face in your hair. Neither of you mentioned how both of your arms trembled from how tightly you held each other. You tucked your face into the crook of his neck to inhale the smell of him, reassuring yourself that he was really there.
When he pulled back to kiss you, you met his lips eagerly. The close press of his body against you slowly filled in the hollow that had grown when he left. You broke the kiss only when your lungs begged for air, but you kept your forehead pressed to his.
After another kiss, albeit a brief one, he nodded toward the door of the bar. “Can I buy you a drink, little lady?”
You laughed, the first laugh since he’d gone. You laughed yourself to tears, and once you started, you couldn’t stop. Neither could he. So the two of you stayed there a minute longer, leaning into each other as you got your giggling under control.
“Well, we probably shouldn’t deprive them of one of the guests of honor,” you said, wiping the last of the tears away as your laughter calmed.
“They’ll survive,” he bargained, tilting your head up to allow him to steal another kiss. And another.
You hummed into the last one, then pulled back a little farther with a grin on your face. “There’s plenty of time for that later, Lieutenant.” Your grin turned a little softer as you continued, “For now, you all deserve to celebrate together.”
“Always so smart.”
“I knew you kept me around for a reason.”
He barked a short laugh as you set off toward the bar. Bradley caught up to you quickly, and you settled your arms around each other before pulling the door open.
The cheer that went up as you entered didn’t faze you. No, nothing could from your position under his arm. You hardly noticed all the people reaching out to give him a congratulatory pat on the shoulder or back for his success in the mission. Both of you made it to the rest of the Dagger squad, who were monopolizing the pool table. Even there, Bradley was getting quite a bit of praise, which was turning him a little bashful.
“Rooster.” You recognized the change in his face at the familiar voice.
“Hangman.”
You didn’t know much about what had happened up there, but you did know that Jake was the reason Bradley came home. You slipped out from under Bradley’s arm to catch Jake in a hug before he could move away. He hesitated for a moment, but his arms found their way around you.
“Thank you.” Your voice was rough on the quiet words. He squeezed you just a little tighter before letting you go. He offered a nod in response, and you got the sense that he was holding back a flashy comment, but he held it in as he left to get something to drink.
You retreated back to Bradley, who pressed a kiss to your head as you leaned into his side.
“He’s growing up, isn’t he?” You shook your head fondly, proud that Jake had read the room well enough to not make a snarky comment just yet.
“I dunno that I’d go that far,” Bradley chuckled, “but it’s about time.”
The time you turned it around on Bradley, pulling him into the center of attention for a change, you were nervous.
It was his birthday and you wanted it to be perfect. You had been practicing for weeks, thanks to Penny letting you come in to the Hard Deck for the piano before the bar opened. You just hoped that your hands wouldn’t freeze up on the keys.
The shared plan was for you to meet him at the Hard Deck along with the rest of the Dagger squad. The real plan was a little different. As far as Bradley knew, you were still supposed to be half an hour from arriving. Phoenix had been key in making sure he avoided where you sat in the corner, hiding in plain sight.
Your fingers drummed a nervous beat on your leg. At this point, you weren’t sure what you were waiting for. Everyone was here, and it wouldn’t be too long before the bar got busy.
Deciding that you were just stalling, you pushed yourself up. You kept an eye on the group of naval aviators as you crept quietly to the jukebox. Taking a breath, you pulled the plug, cutting the music.
You moved over to the piano quickly as everyone’s heads swiveled you find the one and only Bradley Bradshaw. His confused expression would’ve made you laugh if you hadn’t been trying hard to keep him from finding you just yet. As it was, you sat on the bench, willing your throat to not dry. Payback had promised you he would film Bradley’s initial reaction, since you couldn’t see it from the piano, but you had to start playing.
Before the silence stretched too long, you did just that.
“You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain,” you started, encouraged when you heard his bright laughter coming closer to you. “Too much love drives a man insane. You broke my will, oh what a thrill. Goodness gracious, great balls of fire!”
Bradley slid onto the bench next to you, his voice joining yours after he kissed your cheek. The other pilots came over too, surrounding the piano, but you only seemed to notice the one pressed against your side. His voice was the loudest to cheer when you got all the runs in the interlude and again when you hit the last chords.
“Happy birthday, Roose,” you said in his ear when he pulled you into a hug.
“I really love you,” was his immediate reply.
“I love you too.” You paused to lift your hand from the keys. “And look, I’m not even shaking!”
He laughed brightly, slipping his fingers between yours so he could lift your hand to his lips.
“You’re gonna have to marry this one, man,” Payback said as he passed you on the way back to the pool table.
“Oh, I plan to.”