Chapter Text
Rooster’s Bronco is so loud in the early noon. For a very quiet desert, it’s the complete opposite of what Maverick is used to. So he expects a groggy Pete Mitchell to open the hangar doors, but it’s already wide open. So he saunters in like he owns the place. Well, he’s been invited again and again to go live with Maverick ever since their reconciliation and Mav keeps repeating it to him to just feel at home. So he does. And he thinks of the place as his other home. So it’s a huge surprise to see when it’s Phoenix that comes out of the airstream where Maverick lives.
“What the fuck?” Phoenix fixes her hair into her military bun, brows creased with the bright Mojave Desert sun glaring from outside the hangar. Rooster throws his hands around, confused at Phoenix’s presence. “Why are you here, Trace?”
Phoenix doesn’t answer. Instead, she heads to the kitchen just behind the P-51, taking the bread box from the cupboard and fixing herself brunch.
“What, well, where’s Mav?” Phoenix gestures outside, the machine for the grilled cheese at green, ready to heat up her breakfast/lunch.
“Well…” Phoenix is still not talking. And Rooster will just have to live with that for the time being. “It’s good to see you. Could you make some for me as well?” He points at the food that she’s making.
Phoenix nods and gestures to Rooster to go take a seat on the couch. Maverick comes in, shades on, hair wet and his shirt soaked with sweat. He was out on a run. Maverick falls down on the cold cement, catching his breath. Phoenix walks over with a glass of water and sets it near Maverick’s head, the latter nodding a breathless “thank you”.
“You okay there, Mav?” Rooster makes his presence known to Maverick, who was surprised and jerked his head up to look at him, wincing at the sudden burst of pain on his neck.
“Wh— Ack! Oh, Bradley! Hey…” Maverick sits up slowly, chugging the glass of water like his life depends on it. And well, it does.
“Yep, it's me, Mav. Didn’t you promise that we’re gonna work on the Mustang together today?” Phoenix rounds the corner and sets down the plate on the coffee table for Rooster. She looks at Mav and points at the grilled cheese.
“No, thank you, Phoenix. I had breakfast an hour ago.” Natasha nods and goes to fetch her plate and sit at the mismatched couch set with Rooster. “Ah, yeah, is that today?” Maverick slowly walks to the locker which has the calendar nudged between magnets. He squints at today's date and, yep. There it is.
“Yeah. But I’ll let you catch your breath, and maybe take a shower first?” Rooster leans on Phoenix, who groans with protest but doesn’t move away, letting Rooster annoy her. “While I enjoy this wonderful food made by the one and only, she who rises from the ashes, Phoenix.”
He looks up, eyebrows raised, and his grin wide. He’s happy to see her again, and she beams a smirk at him. He raises the grilled cheese for a toast and moans exaggeratedly. Phoenix grimaces and hits Rooster on the forehead lightly with the plate she’s holding, which leads them to a giggling fit.
Maverick was out of there. Probably taking a shower already. And now that he’s alone with her, again, — and the fact that she’s gotten comfortable with him—, he takes the opportunity to ask.
“So, what are you doing here?” Rooster starts as he finishes his grilled cheese, frowning that it’s already empty.
Phoenix clears her throat, and it comes out rougher than usual. Rooster sits up at that. “Well…” And her voice is rough, as if she’s strained her voicebox at some point. It’s fresh off crying out. Rooster’s head goes crazy with thoughts. Why is her voice rough? What’s the reason? Was she crying all night? Why was she crying all night? She looks sleep deprived? Why is that? W—
His thoughts stop when Natasha speaks again. “I’m thinking of asking Maverick to adopt me.”
Now what the hell!? Rooster is now running new questions in his head. Why is she asking Mav to adopt her? Why is her voice rough? Is the voice and adoption connected?
“Are you-” He stops, rethinking his question. “Where is—” He groans and pinches the bridge of his nose. He tries again. “Why?”
That’s the question that he ends up asking.
“He’s the only family I have left, Rooster.” It was low and quiet, and if the desert wasn’t silent, Rooster might’ve missed the sadness in her tone of voice.
Rooster nods, and understands it. When his mom went, he didn’t know what else to do. He felt lonely. So when Maverick asked him to live with him right after, he felt alive again. He knew that he wasn’t alone in the world. Rooster scoots closer and hugs Phoenix. She leans her head on Rooster’s shoulder and sighs.
“I get it, Nat. I do.” He rubs circles on her back, soothing whatever pain she’s got.
“I finally cried yesterday, Rooster.” She says, retelling her story. “Two weeks of bottled up emotions because when you’re in the military, you can’t show weakness. You can’t let them know that you’re broken or else they’ll leave you in the dust.”
For someone with a hoarse voice, she doesn’t stop. She keeps going, hands reach behind Rooster, hugging back. “I got my day off yesterday and I… I subconsciously took the bus heading here. I only realized when I heard Maverick call out to me while I was walking here. Seems he was on a joy-ride and it was luck that he found me."
She pauses, sighing and clearing her throat once more, the cough is dry and painful. "So, we drove back here to drop my bags and went back out, trying to chase the sunset. The motorcycle's engine was loud so, I murmured onto his back about what happened to my Nonna. I'm pretty sure he didn't hear me at all. But that's okay. Word has definitely got to his ears. So, my Nonna is gone, there's no house to go back to, no hope to cling on to. Nothing at all, until I saw Maverick smiling at me."
Her breath is shaky. She sighs and pulls away from the hug. Bradley has been quietly listening to her. "I realized that when he said if I ever need help, go to him . It was real, and my body subconsciously went to him. And he helped me. Without asking any question. He took me in without having to explain anything. He understands me, Rooster."
"I know, 'Nix." Rooster nods, pushing away the stray hair from Phoenix’s face. "And I know he's happy you turned to him for help. I think he'd accept you into the Mitchell family."
"Really?"
Rooster just nods. Bradley is technically a Bradshaw, but he adopted Mitchell into his name at some point, forgetting when they had a fallout, but coming back to reclaim Maverick as his family once again.
“Really.” He reaches into his pocket and reaches for a group photo of when they were in the mission together. He looks at it, fondness in his eyes. “And I’d love to be siblings with you, Natasha “Phoenix” Trace-Mitchell.”
“Hah! That’s a mouthful!” She exclaims laughing with no sound. She may look exhausted and fucked up, but she’s definitely feeling a lot better. “Alright, Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw-Mitchell.”
They both grimace at that, but ended in a giggling fit. When Maverick walks in, towel around his neck and hair wet, but of water, he notices Natasha’s better mood. He doesn’t ask what it is about, but figures it out quickly as the two giddily walk up to him, attentively standing as they both reach out papers.
“Ah, what is this?” He takes both the paper and reads them, having to squint and push it at arm's length —old people-vision. It’s adoption papers, both are signed at the agreement below and their respective names filled out “Trace-Mitchell” and “Bradshaw-Mitchell”. He’s surprised. As well as shocked. And confused. And most of all worried. But he can’t help fighting back a smile as he stares at the -Mitchell at the end of their family names. They want to be a part of his family. And Bradley, he wants to be his son! Tears cloud his vision as he stares at the papers even longer, he beckons the two for a hug.
Natasha gets into Mav’s arms and Bradley being the biggest of them, completely covers them with his huge physique. The hug lasted for a minute and a half until Maverick had to tap out, due his nose getting watery by crying and the pressure of Bradley’s hug enveloping him. He laughs and points at the couch, telling all of them to sit down.
“Are you two sure about this?” Maverick asks, after drying his eyes and clearing his voice of glee while putting on his serious game face. The two nods. Bradley speaks first.
“I always wanted your name in mine ever since I learned how to read. I like how it falls so naturally that even mom said she wouldn't be opposed to putting your name in mine.” Bradley explains, his history muddled between words. He can’t ignore the elephant in the room. “But of course, the entire shitshow happened, and I couldn’t really ask then because of my pride and stubbornness. So now that we’re in contact again, I want to make things right and ask if you could be my dad now. I want that more than ever.”
“I see.” Maverick’s response was short. Maverick shuffles the paper and gets to Natasha’s request for adoption.
“You’re the closest I have of family left, Mav. I am the perfect candidate for any suicide bombing that can be executed by the navy, not only because I am one of the best pilots after you, but also because I have become dispensable. After my Nonna died, my name is now in their throwaway dog-tags.” Natasha wasn’t looking straight into Mav's eyes. Instead, she was staring behind him, her back straight and her voice rough but words clear. She’s speaking as if she’s defending her stance on it, logic being the biggest convincing material she’s got. But her eyes wander to the left and meets Maverick’s. His face is not judging, however, it’s telling that she’s not saying what he wants to hear. She tries again. Her stance becomes more loose and scared, making her small, thinking she’s being judged so hard by both the Mitchell boys. “I uh… I had a talk with Admiral Bates. He uh.. He saw me leave the restroom after crying my eyes out when I heard the news about my Nonna. He gave me both wake-up call and comforting words.”
Her voice shakes again, unsure whether to continue her speech . “He told me that my name is indeed in the top of the list of soldiers going to be sent out on missions . And if that isn’t every soldier’s dream, then I don’t know what is. But after the suicide mission, I’ve been more skeptical. But other than my fears and how I can get over them, I heard from Warlock that you talked back at Admiral Simpson and pushed to have us come back alive from the mission. As someone whose parents were not present, and having the only one person in my life fade away, those were the best words I’ve heard through the week. That you cared so deeply for us. That you went against orders to keep us alive.” She pauses, sighing and straightening up. “So… It’s no surprise when my feet took me here when I couldn’t think. I looked for your comforting presence, Mav. You put me on this ground, because hadn’t it been you, we’d have gone up in flames.”
Maverick nods, his smile soft and affirming. “I think of you as my dad, Mav. I don’t even know if you want me as your own, but I really…” She doesn’t finish her words as Maverick stepped over the coffee table and pulled her up to hug her.
“Alright, Natasha Trace-Mitchell.” Maverick says and that’s all it took for the dam to break open. Her tears soaking through Maverick’s shoulder. “I do think of you as my daughter. All of the young guns, you are all my children. It doesn’t matter if we’re not connected by blood at all. But I do care for all of you. Deeply. In my heart. And that’s why I fought for you.”
Bradley also stood up, rubbing circles on their backs, comforting them, joining the hug. The two adjust their hands to wrap around Bradley.
It’s afternoon, just right after maneuver training and everyone is sweaty from the sun glaring at them through the plane canopy. They’re done and they all head to the mess hall. So it’s a surprise to Hangman when the two walk in the rec room with their wing-patches printed out “Trace-Mitchell” and “Bradshaw-Mitchell”. Hands flail at the two.
“What…?!” Phoenix and Rooster chuckle at Hangman’s reaction. Bob comes closer and squints at her chest, and she jokingly covers it exaggeratedly.
“That’s indecent of you, Lt. Floyd.” She teases Bob who flushes red after realizing what he’d just done. Rooster is at the corner, laughing his ass off, Hangman’s hands gripping his shoulders shaking him for answers.